


Let's Get Coffee

by sleepee_gurl



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS, 여자친구 | GFriend (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Male Character, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9639974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepee_gurl/pseuds/sleepee_gurl
Summary: Wonwoo is living at home and commuting to the University of Toronto every day for school. One night he runs into this guy who shows him a secret door? Then he runs into him again in his Psych100 class, then again at coffee shop, then again at another coffee shop?? It's just a coincidence right? Though some might call it fate...and Mingyu certainly ends up in the right place in the right time as a barista, a study buddy, and to help Wonwoo come out???(an entirely self-indulgent fake-dating/coffee-shop au that is really fluffy)





	1. The Courtyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo is peacefully sipping (chugging) his coffee during his Monday morning Psych class when something (and someone) distracts him. Coffee brings people together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! This is just supposed to be a fun story that incorporates my favourite fanfic tropes (fake dating + coffee shops because I am a walking cliché)! I am actually just procrastinating writing a psych paper haha. Anyways! Enjoy!  
> I was really inspired by the amazing [Reckless, Wild Youth](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7004755/chapters/15953842)  
> by woozifi!!! check it out!!!

The eastbound subway rushed up to the platform and Wonwoo stepped forward to the edge of the yellow safety line. Sometimes standing so close to the moving train made him feel dizzy, to the point where he worried about falling but today he felt steadier. His mom had convinced him that he needed to get out of the house after a month of staying at home on the weekends. “We’re in the greatest city in Canada! Get out there and do something! Get involved!” Wonwoo sighed remembering her words. She meant well but going out in the city alone made a feeling of isolation creep up on him. Despite his trepidation, here he was on a Sunday evening taking the subway to the University of Toronto campus to go to an art show, ALONE. Not that being alone made him nervous, Wonwoo thought as the subway doors binged open and he rushed to snag a seat, it just made him miss the familiarity of the small town he lived in before moving here with his family.

To avoid making eye contact with the person sitting across the aisle from him, Wonwoo pulled out the novel he was reading for his English class “Literature for Our Time”. It was _Beloved_ by Toni Morrison and reading it on the subway was definitely the reason he had missed his stop so many times recently. He was in his first year at U of T and was living at home since his parents happened too move to Toronto for his dad’s work just when he went into his first year. The family lived about a half hour subway ride from campus which really wasn’t bad. U of T was a commuter school anyways since the price of renting in the city was usually too steep for students to afford. Wonwoo’s older brother managed to afford it though. Bohyuk was two years ahead of Wonwoo and he lived in some shitty apartment in Baldwin Village. He was the only person Wonwoo really hung out with outside of his acquaintances from class. Bohyuk had a ton of friends in the city though, so the brothers didn’t spend as much time together as Wonwoo would have liked.

The jolt of the subway coming to a stop and the automated voice saying “arriving at St. George, St. George station” jolted him from his train of thought and he stood up to wait for the doors to open. As he climbed up the stairs to the station some fresh air blew over him. He took a deep breath of it as he stepped outside. It was unseasonable warm for mid-October and Wonwoo was incredibly happy for it. Around this time last year it was already snowing back in Chatham, the town where he grew up. The snow was definitely not something he missed. Here and now, the sun was still in the sky and probably wouldn’t set for another couple of hours. Fall was definitely Wonwoo’s favourite season, and campus looked especially beautiful with the leaves turning and the sun shining. He smiled and tried to be mindful of how perfect everything looked as he walked to the University College building.

There was a show at the Art Museum there, and to appease his mother’s badgering for him to get involved in his area of study (he was in Art History) he decided to finally leave the house. Low and behold his mother was right again. It felt really good to be out and doing something in the city, even if he was by himself. Plus, he was super excited about the Kent Monkman exhibit at the museum! Many other people ultimately were as well and inside the small museum was crowded with all sorts of people, students and non-students alike. Despite the crowd, the feeling inside was good. As with other exhibits he had loved, Wonwoo got drawn in and zoned out to those around him, focused on the art. Monkman told an enrapturing and disturbing story with his paintings of Indigenous movement and the impact of settler colonialism in Canadian history.

When Wonwoo finally had made his slow and steady walk throughout the entire exhibit he stumbled out into the darkening UC courtyard. Other people seemed to be filing out as well and the crowds were dwindling inside. The exhibit had him lost in thought and feeling like he didn’t want to go home. So instead of leaving right away, he dropped himself down onto one of the benches and watched the warm fall wind run its course through the yellow and orange leaves of the courtyard trees. Moments like these assured him that he was in the right program. Art was for Wonwoo, the ultimate way to communicate with other people. He himself had no trouble talking to people but when it came to emotionality he felt that words fell short. The world darkened around him. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there enjoying the warmth of the night and the thoughts evoked by the exhibit but the wind was picking up and Wonwoo felt tell-tale goosebumps rise on his legs. He shivered with the chill and decided it was time to go home.

But there was one problem. Going around to every door leading out of the courtyard, Wonwoo found that they were all locked. All of his ways out. Locked. Deciding to go around to check a second time, (because it didn’t make sense! there were still people in the Art museum? at least the lights were on), he found again he was unable to open any of the doors. _Shit_ , he thought. That’s what I get for leaving the house on weekend. Locked in a courtyard. AND it’s supposed to be haunted, he remembered. _Shit shit_. What was the story? One of the builders murdering his friend with an axe or something?

Shaking his head,and thinking that panicking wouldn’t do him any good, Wonwoo made the circle of the courtyard again, and again, and again. As he was checking the main door for the 4th time, he felt someone pat his shoulder. He jolted and turned around as whoever it was cleared his throat. “Hey man,” the person said and Wonwoo looked up, which was saying something because he wasn’t exactly short, at the blond guy talking to him who looked part sheepish and part amused. “Look I uh, couldn’t help but notice you, uh trying the doors.” Wonwoo smiled.

“Yeah, this might sound stupid but, I was trying to find a way to leave?” he responded. The guy laughed.

“No, no it’s not stupid,” he said with a grin, showing off his prominent canine teeth, “I honestly would do the same if no one told me.” He walked up to Wonwoo and motioned for him to move aside from the door. Going up to it he grabbed a handle that Wonwo hadn’t noticed on his many tries before, pulled it out and twisted it. He pushed out and to Wonwoo’s amazement a smaller door WITHIN the main wooden door opened outwards. He was free!

“A secret door??” Wonwoo asked, incredulous. Was this Hogwarts? “Jesus. Thanks. I would have never figured that out.” The guy laughed again and scratched the back of his head.

“No problem man.” he said and gave Wonwoo a wave as he turned to go, “See you around.”

“Yeah thanks again!” he replied, waving back. He stepped up and through the hidden door, and shut it behind him. It was hidden from the outside of the door as well. I love this school, Wonwoo thought as he looked at the CN Tower glowing in his direct view in the distance. He smiled and turned to make his way home. His mom was always right.

 

PT 2: 

Vitalizing and Vivifying: the Energizing and Bonding Properties of Coffee

 

The first month and a half of school had flown by. In high school it felt like every minute dragged on for hours, but now, maybe because of the newness of everything, time seemed to slip through his fingers. September lasted the blink of an eye and mid-October meant the first midterms of Wonwoo’s university career. The first one to contend with was for his Art History course, but he wasn’t too too worried about it. It was just some short answer and picture recognition thing which sounded pretty similar to his high school art class tests. That was it for the coming week. And to be honest, Wonwoo didn’t exactly plan past whatever week he was on; which was probably the main contributor to him being behind in all his readings.

 

Bohyuk was always telling him that he needed to change the way he studied once he hit university, but honestly Wonwoo didn’t trust Bohyuk’s inputall that much when it came to school. Not that he was a bad student, he was just a little less focused than his younger brother when it came to studies. He would say he knew how to have fun. Their mother would say he knew how to waste time.

 

Wonwoo pulled out his phone as he settled into his seat in Convocation Hall. Intro psychology was on Mondays at the deathly time of 9am. In tow was the impressive and cherished travel mug that Wonwoo carried around almost everywhere, full of the elixir of life: hot black coffee.Impressive because of its massive size and cherished because he would probably die without coffee. If not die, at least fail a ton of classes.

 

He opened his Facebook as he waited for lecture to start. Searching the course code and session in the search bar, he found the Facebook group for the class. Since midterms were on their way, having a resource to ask questions about the class would be useful. For most of his other classes he had one acquaintance that he could contact for notes or questions but Wonwoo avoided people in PSY100. Generally he didn’t talk to people in this class for a few reasons. For one it was Monday morning, and he was still working on his first coffee of the day. Con Hall was also the biggest lecture hall at the university, sitting over a thousand people, and Wonwoo tended to sit in the back most corner so he could mess around on his laptop when the lecture wasn’t holding his attention.

 

Psych was actually one of his favourite classes that semester, but again: Monday morning, 9am, first coffee. Who would be able to focus for two hours under such conditions? He did pull up an empty word document when the prof got started, however. The lecture was an intro to sensation and perception which Wonwoo thought could be cool, maybe. He took a calculating sip of his coffee and felt the caffeine warm his bones. Seemed they were starting with vision…eyeballs…cool. Coffee always made his outlook on life and school work brighter.

 

In the seat directly in front of him it seemed someone was not perceiving the lecture through such rose coloured glasses, or coffee coloured for that matter. Wonwoo sensed the sleepiness ebbing off the person seated ahead of him, who was leaning his blonde head heavily on his left hand and watching what seemed to be a cutesy cartoon about bears.

 

Wonwoo took another sip of his coffee and suddenly two things clicked in his mind, one: the person sitting in front of him was that tall-blond-secret door-nice smile guy from the night beforeand two: he was watching We Bare Bears which was Bohyuk’s favourite show of the moment. Somehow recognizing him made Wonwoo’s heart jump, which he attributed to his immense caffeine intake and the fact that it was so rare for him to recognize people on campus. His mom was right, he should make more friends and drink less coffee. He pulled out his phone again to text Bohyuk.

 

 

 

Wonwoo sighed but was smiling. Him and Bohyuk liked teasing each other, and really, he did love his brother. He made a mental note to make plans with him soon, even if it was just hanging out in his shitty apartment and watching cartoons. It was nice to have a chance to commiserate about school and their parents.

 

Though he probably should have tuned back into lecture, the cartoon bears in his direct line of view were distracting him and so was the back of that guy’s head. Thinking of Bohyuk’s insistence that he should make more friends, Wonwoo decided to creep the class's Facebook group to see if he could find the secret-door guy. Obviously step one to making friends with someone was stalking them on social media to make sure they weren’t a serial killer or brony or whatever.

 

He pulled up the class list and scrolled through trying to find the familiar face. It took a while considering the class was over one thousand strong, but he finally found him: Kim Mingyu. The picture for his profile was a shot of Mingyu with a golden retriever on a beach laughing as the dog was trying to lick his face. Wonwoo was weary of dogs, especially big ones, but he had to admit that the picture was….cute. This Mingyu guy had a universally charming smile, and said smile had Wonwoo continuing to scroll through his profile pictures…not that he was checking him out. Well he was friend checking him out or so he told himself.

 

Overall, Wonwoo found Mingyu to be an unexpectedly cute guy. His first impression of him the night before came largely from the height difference between them, and the self assuredness with which he approached Wonwoo. He had seemed…suave. But looking at his Facebook led to a goofier and softer image, though certainly he seemed popular, one of those people with hundreds of likes on every profile picture. Wonwoo was more the type to keep a smaller circle of close friends and seeing all of Mingyu’s freind’s posts on his wall Wonwoo’s thoughts were sent back to his friends from home.

 

Toronto didn’t feel like home yet, and though Chatham, where he grew up, had it’s shortcomings, he did miss the people he grew up with. He was still in contact with his closest friends of course: Sarah, Jessica, and Erik still messaged him pretty often. Soonyoung, the only other East Asian kid at his high school was his best friend and they still texted and snapchatted every day. (One of Chatham’s biggest shortcomings was that it was so homogeneously white.) 

 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. His phone buzzed with a snapchat from Soonyoung of him sitting in some lecture hall with his eyes closed with a sticker that said “FML”. This was a usual occurace, Wonwoo and Soonyoung snapchatted their daily lives to each other “for the streak” as Soonyoung would say, but really it was just a nice way to keep in contact.

 

Wonwoo quickly sent a snap of him looking bored in the direction of the prof. Luckily no one around him was paying any attention. Actually the person directly next to him was asleep

 

Suddenly, Wonwoo’s attention snapped back to the front of the class. Coffee, his true saviour, the love of his life, had given him ears as sharp as a hawk…wait was that eyes? It didn’t matter. He caught the tail end of the prof’s sentence, one word catching his attention: “iclicker”. The whole hall scrambled around in their bags to pull out their iclickers. This was it. Going to lecture for marks by answering multiple choice questions put up on the slides. The question this time asked whether or not binocular vision was an aide to depth perception over monocular vision.

 

“Two is better than one” the person who had been asleep only a moment before whispered, now clicking in his answer to the question.Such was the life of a university student.

 

Eventually lecture ended and everyone absconded at the speed of light, aka the speed of a student after a coffee. Wonwoo fit this profile exactly and he hauled ass as fast as he could to Hart House for more coffee. Of course his impressive and cherished travel mug was empty after a two hour lecture, so determinedly he power walked through the sea of bodies leaving Con Hall. A mantra of “coffee, coffee, coffee” punctuated his every step.

 

He had one more class on Mondays, called Gender in Pop Culture, which ran from twelve to two pm. Originally he took the class because it sounded like a bird course, but after even just the first lecture he was totally enthralled by the course content. Analyzing pop culture was actually really fun. All the more reason to be awake and alert as possible for class. Which meant he had exactly one hour to have two more coffees before class started.

 

Wonwoo shuffled through the line and eventually got to pour himself his coffee, beautiful, hot, aromatic, beloved, and kind. All thoughts of making new friends with Mingyu from class had left his head. He had all the friendship he needed in a good ole cup o’ joe. After paying he sunk down into a chair, exhaling with a sigh of content. Any morning could be a good morning. In a way he liked mornings the best because it was the easiest time of day to justify what other people might consider extreme coffee consumption.

 

Rummaging into his backpack he pulled out his book Beloved so he could continue reading. Completely absorbed in the story it took hima stretched out moment to realize that there was a person talking to him from across the table.

 

“Hey!” Mingyu, aka secret-door guy, was saying with an amused look on his face. Wonwoo looked up at him.

 

“Oh!” he responded, eyebrows knit, “Sorry I was caught up in—” he held up his book as evidence.

 

“Ah, no problem!” Mingyu said, his charming smile making an appearance. “I just recognized you from last night and thought I would say hi!”

 

“Right.” Wonwoo replied. “Hi.” He smiled up at Mingyu. He noticed that the blond was holding a cup of what Wonwoo assumed to be coffee. “Oh! Do you want to sit down?” he asked.

 

“Yeah! Thanks!” Mingyushuffled his backpack off his back and swung into the seat across from Wonwoo agilely. He sighed, his eyes closing, as he leaned back in his seat and stretched out his legs. “Oh man,” he began, his eyes opened again and met Wonwoo’s, “I was just in a lecture in Con Hall and I swear morning classes drag on for years.” Wonwoo nodded solemnly in agreement and refrained from pointing out that Mingyu had been watching cartoons the entire two hours. “Do you have class today? I’m guessing you’re a student here too?” Mingyu asked before taking a long sip of his drink.

 

“Yeah, I’m in my first year.” Wonwoo replied, “And I was actually just in that morning lecture too. Psych?”

 

“Oh no way! Shoot, sorry man I can’t remember if I asked your name?”

 

“I’m Wonwoo,” he said, extending his hand, “Nice to meet you!”

 

“You too!” Mingyu clasped Wonwoo’s hand in his own warm dry one, the handshake was firm but brief. “I’m Mingyu, I’m in my first year too. Taking Life Science.” At the mention of his field of study, Mingyu raked his left hand through his hair and a stressed look flashed through his eyes. “It’s uh…a good program.”

 

“Convincing.” Wonwoo muttered. Mingyu appeared not to hear him. “I’m in Psych and Art History.”

 

“Do you like them?” Mingyu inquired, eyes glimmering with…could that be hope for humanity?

 

Hope that the academy held something other than suffering?

 

“Yeah!” Wonwoo replied after a short pause of thought, “Although, those psych classes in the morning three times a week are a bit of a pain in the ass.” Mingyu nodded emphatically, a serious look of camaraderie on his face. “But hey, at least we have coffee. Plus I always sit in the back so I can mess around if I get bored slash need to keep myself awake.” 

 

“Ah me too! I sit in the back and watch TV mostly.” Mingyu admitted a bit sheepishly. Then an idea struck him: “Hey would you sit with me in class?” he proposed suddenly. “I don’t know anyone in that lecture and maybe if I had someone to sit with I’d actually focus on the lecture more?” He turned a hopeful glance across the table.

Wonwoo paused to think. In a way he kind of liked sitting alone and not paying attention, but on the other hand he’s not sure how much Mingyu’s expected increase in concentration for the lecture would really come to fruition from sitting together anyways. Plus, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

 

“Ah…sorry if that was a weird thing to ask.” Mingyu mumbled, looking sheepish again. “I know we just met…uh…”

 

“No, it’s fine.” Wonwoo assured, “let’s sit together.” Mingyu’s smile broke out and his canine’s flashed. Wonwoo couldn’t help but smile back. “I do need something to stop me from wasting so much time in class on Facebook.”

 

“Oh…speaking of time…” Mingyu looked down at the watch adorning his left wrist, “SHIT!” His swearing was so loud that Wonwoo winced, “Oh sorry, shit.” he said more quietly while he jumped up from his seat and swung his backpack over his shoulder. “I have a chem lab to get to!!” he explained to a lost looking Wonwoo. He began to rush away from the table before pausing mid-step with a jolt and turning around to wave at the table. Wonwoo waved back. “See you on Wednesday Wonwoo! Nice to meet you!” And he practically sprinted away.

 

Wonwoo smiled. Maybe nine AM psych classes wouldn’t be so boring after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This will be a chaptered fic! I already have it all outlined so please look forward to more chapters! (Will probably end up being around 6 or 7). Hope to update weekly (though midterms are coming up so sometimes it might be once every two weeks)! Sorry this chapter is kinda short! The other ones will for sure be a bit longer :)  
> Always love feedback etc. <3!  
> Edit: amalgamated chapters 1 + 2!!!


	2. Midterms?!?!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why are midterms already here? Mingyu is unprepared...Wonwoo is slightly less unprepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry this took a while to put up! I actually had my reading week and midterms of my own to contend with ;-;  
> Thanks for your patience! Enjoy!

Via some miracle, Wonwoo’s Art History exam was a breeze. Well, maybe knowledge retention for a subject you’re passionate about is higher— but either way, miracle or science, the exam went ridiculously well. After this rousing success, Wonwoo decided to treat himself to bubble tea from the Chatime on Bloor, but somehow getting bubble tea alone made it taste like it was missing something; to be cliché, it tasted lonely. He sat down alone at a table and pulled out his phone. 

When he and Soonyoung took a day trip to Toronto they got bubble tea for the first time, Chatham, where they grew up was sadly lacking in this staple beverage), and it had been so much fun. Soonyoung flipping out all over the place about the city, the Art Gallery of Ontario, all the people, and of course the bubble tea. 

Wonwoo missed having him around so much. Really he should just make new friends, but…how is someone even supposed to go about that? Talk to people? Remember their names? Compliment them? But then how could you take the step to: ‘hey let’s hang out outside of class’?So instead of reaching out to someone new, he snapchatted a pic of his tea to Soonyoung, but refrained from being cheesy with any “wish you were here” messages…even though that was really how he was feeling.

Deciding that he was being depressing, he texted Bohyuk to see if he wanted to meet up sometime that week. Though Bohyuk and him didn’t seem to spend that much time together, it was largely because neither of them were good at making plans. In a big way, Wonwoo felt like if he spent too much time with his brother it would act like a scapegoat for not making any ‘real’ friends. Adding to that train of thought, Bohyuk always seemed busy with his own large group of friends, plus Wonwoo had a feeling he was dating some girl, though the brothers never really talked too much about ‘romance’. 

After texting his older brother, Wonwoo quickly received an approving text back and an invite over to Bohyuk’s place on Thursday after Wonwoo’s writing class. It felt really nice to have family nearby, family that weren’t his parents that is. 

The brothers had a positive relationship with their mom and dad, but sometimes things got a bit strained when talking about future careers for both sons. Wonwoo with his passion for art history/art and Bohyuk’s…ambiguous social science pursuits had lead to heated debates about what they were going to do with their lives. Wonwoo found that his psych major helped with answering his parents’ questioning and nowadays would often tell them he was going to be an art therapist though he wasn’t sure about that at all. _At all_. 

When the family had all lived together, it had been great to have Bohyuk around so they could support each other in the battles with their parents over the future. Now that it was just Wonwoo at home…he tried to avoid conflict with them as best he could. Especially when it came to school. He was trying to get on his parents good side if he was perfectly honest because he was planning to come out to them as bisexual and wanted it to go as smoothly as possible. 

His father he didn’t worry about as much; they were a bit distant but on generally friendly terms. It was his mother, with her extreme concern and over-protectiveness that Wonwoo really worried about. _But it was fine_ , Wonwoo reassured himself, I _have a plan_. He was going to come out to Bohyuk first and then he could use him as backup when he told his parents. OK…so maybe it wasn’t a super well developed plan, but it was a start. At any rate, he wanted it to go over well because he really did love his parents and it would mean a lot to him for them to know about his sexuality. He felt like it was a big part of him. 

A ‘bing’ from his phone alerted him that he had some notification from Facebook. He opened it up and found that he had a friend request from that guy Mingyu from psych. And he was worried about making friends! Facebook was obviously the first step to real friendship, right? Not that Wonwoo was excited or anything, just calmly assessing the situation or whatever. With this boost in positive feeling he made his way to the bus stop. Needing something to think about on the bus ride home that didn’t involve being stressed about school or being stressed about being “in the closet” Wonwoo tried to list the positives of the day. An exam under his belt, plans with Bohyuk, and maybe actually successfully socializing?? It was a good day.

 

*  *  *

 

Finally Wednesday morning rolled around which meant deathly morning class. But again it had its perks; massive mugs of coffee without a judging glance, getting marks via easy powerpoint questions, and now maybe having someone to sit with in class? But a new obstacle crossed Wonwoo’s mind, his psych lecture with Mingyu was almost a thousand people, how were they supposed to find each other to sit together? It wasn’t a big deal…but it would be nice if they could sit together and Wonwoo had no way of contacting Mingyu except through Facebook. As he approached Con Hall, he pulled out his phone with the intention of messaging Mingyu where he was going to sit but before he could finish typing the message his phone began to buzz. 

It was a Facebook call from Mingyu. _Who even does that?_ Wonwoo thought before promptly answering his phone. “Hello?” he said, though he knew who it was. 

“HEY!” Mingyu practically shouted through the phone, Wonwoo jerked his phone slightly back from his ear in response to the volume of Mingyu’s voice, “So I’m sorry to call you like this but I realized how are we even going to find each other??” Wonwoo nodded before realizing that his assent would be missed over the phone.

“Right.” he affirmed. 

“Yeah!” Mingyu enthused, the volume of his voice slightly tempered but still above average. “So! I have a plan. Let’s just meet by the main entrance! I’m wearing a white t-shirt and light jeans with a bunch of holes in them, white shoes…and a red backpack!” Wonwoo snorted at the detail in his outfit description. 

“Sure,” he replied evenly, “I’ll find you. See you in-” 

“Wait! Before you hang up,” Mingyu jumped in, “What are you wearing?” 

Wonwoo laughed at the question before he could stop himself.

“Oh, wait that sounded weird. No…I just meant…in case you can’t find me. Sorry.” Mingyu apologized. Wonwoo paused over the genuine anxiety the other boy’s voice was laced with. 

“It’s all good. I’m wearing…” Wonwoo glanced down at himself, “…black.” 

“Black.” Mingyu repeated. There was a pause. “OK. You find me.” 

“Alright.” Wonwoo said, he found that he was smiling. “See you!” 

“See you!” Mingyu mimicked, and hung up. 

Wonwoo took the phone down from his ear and smiled at it. He continued his walk along King’s College Circle toward Con Hall, eyes flitting back and forth in search of a red backpack (among other details). But before he could pick Mingyu out of the sea of bodies, he heard his name being called. 

“WONWOO!” an exceptionally loud voice called from behind him. Wonwoo turned around, careful to step out of the way of the people walking behind him. Mingyu was walking briskly towards him, a hand raised in greeting, easy to pick out because of his height and blonde hair. Wonwoo waved back and walked to meet him. 

“How’s it going?” Wonwoo asked when they finally reached one another. 

“Good!” Mingyu replied with a smile, which slowly melted into a slight frown, “Well, not bad.” he conceded. “Midterms are pretty much murdering me right now but…” he left the sentence unfinished with a shrug. 

“Right. I’m getting pretty nervous about some of mine coming up too.” Wonwoo said, Mingyu nodded solemnly. 

“Well I’m glad we worked out meeting up! I’m ready to actually take notes this lecture!” Mingyu proclaimed. Wonwoo raised an eyebrow slightly at the genuine quality of his assertion. 

“Yeah nice.” Wonwoo assented. “And uh, nice Facebook call. I’ve never heard of anyone actually using that function.” He smirked at Mingyu who was walking alongside him. 

“Are you criticizing me right now?” Mingyu asked incredulously, “The person who described what he was wearing as ‘black’?” Wonwoo glanced down at what he was wearing and shrugged at Mingyu with a quick grin. 

“I mean…it was an accurate description.” he countered as they made there way through the doors of Con Hall. It really was a beautiful room, but its beauty had seemingly diminished with the number of boring lectures experienced within its walls. 

“Where do you want to sit?” Mingyu asked, changing the subject. Wonwoo looked around at the other students filing in. 

“I’m easy. Maybe where we sat last time.” Mingyu looked at him questioningly. 

“What do you mean? Have we sat together before?” _Oops._

“Oh…um..” Wonwoo began, gracefully, “yeah, I uh, noticed you watching TV in front of me last week. Sorry I forgot we didn’t actually…interact.” His mouth fell into a grimace. This slip was undoubtedly because he had yet to consume any coffee yet that morning. Goddamn lack of caffeine. Mingyu simply laughed.

“Watching TV? Yeah that was definitely me.” Mingyu said with a smile. Wonwoo felt some of the tenseness leave his shoulders at Mingyu’s response. He seemed like a really easy going guy. “Yeah let’s sit there again!”

They made there way up to the corner in silence. Wonwoo ruminating on his mistake and how much he wanted to chug is precious travel mug full of life, beauty, the face of god, etc. Mingyu bouncing along with some mysterious inherent energy like it wasn’t nine in the morning. 

Mingyu jumped happily into a seat, _really like a golden retriever_ , Wonwoo thought. He sat carefully next him immediately opening his mug to take a gulp of coffee. After several more reverent sips he set the mug down and sighed in contentment. Coffee truly was the answer to all of his problems. 

Mingyu was looking his way with a slight grin. “What?” Wonwoo asked defensively. 

“Nothing, nothing” he responded, still smiling. He went back to pulling out his laptop and turning it on. Wonwoo grunted and took another sip of coffee, simultaneously turning on his laptop and opening a new word document. Mingyu stretched and pulled a small thermos out of his bag. “Nothing like a hot drink in the morning, eh?” he asked Wonwoo with his seemingly perpetual smile. 

“Yeah,” Wonwoo agreed, cradling his coffee mug. “I…love coffee. It gets me through this lecture…and life really.” 

“I’m more of a tea man, myself.” Mingyu pondered. Wonwoo choked on the sip of coffee he had been in the middle of taking. Mingyu’s face flashed concern, but then he grinned. “Whoa, man are you good?” 

“You….don’t…drink…coffee?” Wonwoo spluttered between coughs. Mingyu just shook his head. “I’m…amazed…and slightly disturbed?” 

“Dude, you sound like an addict.” Mingyu laughed. “I just never drank it, my parents have always told me it would stunt my growth. Plus I usually have energ-” Mingyu paused, looking like something out of the corner of his eye had caught his attention. He had turned to face the front of the room and was staring with an open mouth at something. “Oh. My god.” he breathed out. “Dude. The prof is so hot?!” Wonwoo turned to look at Professor Turner. He was fairly young, sort of a dark and handsome, but not really Wonwoo’s type…too serious looking. Wonwoo was taken off guard by how casually Mingyu had talked about his attraction to their prof, who was a man...he looked back and the boy next to him to see that Mingyu was staring at him, looking like he was nervously waiting for Wonwoo to react to his outburst.

“You just noticed what the professor looks like?” Wonwoo asked drawlingly, trying to ensure Mingyu that he didn't care what gender he was attracted to, “This is like the sixth week of class.” Mingyu had a sheepish look on his face again, and he rubbed the back of his head, a slight blush creeping up his neck. _Cute_. Wonwoo’s brain thought before he had time to consider it consciously. 

“I…uh…maybe have watched TV every single class.” Mingyu admitted, the blush taking over more of his face, but looking more relaxed after Wonwoo's teasing but accepting reaction. 

Wonwoo had to laugh. “Why do you even come to lecture then? No offence.” he asked, genuinely curious. 

“I-clicker questions bro! Gotta at least try and get some marks.” Mingyu responded immediately. “I’m not _that_ bad of a student.” he implored.

Wonwoo nodded slowly, still sporting a small smile, “I believe you.” he complied. “I do my share of messing around in this class too. Until I’ve had my coffee that is.” He stroked the mug fondly. 

“You really are addicted.” Mingyu scoffed. Wonwoo shrugged, and went in for another drink of coffee. 

The attention of both boys was drawn again to the front of the room as the lecture began. The lecture was furthering what the class on Monday had started on sensation and perception. During the lecture Wonwoo glanced sideways at Mingyu next to him and noticed that he was actually taking notes…though he did notice that one of the bullet points on his page was ‘- really hot prof??? kinda looks like joseph gordon levitt??’. He snorted again, but Mingyu didn’t notice, seemingly enthralled with Professor Turner’s lecture…or dreamy looks, more accurately.

When the i-clicker question came up on the powerpoint screen, Mingyu took his out and flashed Wonwoo a coy smile. They quietly discussed what they thought the answer was, but other than that the lecture passed in silence between them. 

That is, until…The Announcement. 

Professor Turner was wrapping up the class as usual when he suddenly paused his goodbyes with an ‘oh!’ clicking to one more slide in his power point. In bright red bold letters ‘MIDTERM ON MONDAY’ was spread across the screen. Wonwoo heard Mingyu’s sharp intake of breath at the slide. Professor Turner was smiling up at them. “Well, thought I would remind you all that midterm number one is this coming Monday!” There was an outbreak of unhappy mumbling throughout the room. “Make sure to know lecture material the best, but there will be questions from the readings. Oh- and it’s all multiple choice.” Turner continued. “Alright, see you all on Friday.” At that everyone began to pack up there bags to leave, with Wonwoo following suit. 

“Well, I’m glad he reminded us,” Wonwoo said turning to face Mingyu to his left, “I had no idea when the midterm was to be honest.” He continued to look at Mingyu, expecting a response, but when none came he realized that the other boy was wringing his hands nervously and staring into space with a far off, panicked, look on his face. 

“Uh…Mingyu?” Wonwoo began, somewhat concerned, “Are…you ok?” he asked. Mingyu shook his head and snapped back into the present at the sound of his name. 

“Heh.” he breathed, shaking his head and looking down. “OK…sure…uh.” Wonwoo tilted his head curiously. Mingyu ran a hand through his hair and looked up again. “I’m just…Far From Ready…you know?” Wonwoo nodded calmly.  “But..it’s fine. We have time to study right?” he said, mostly to himself. 

“Yeah, we have time.” Wonwoo agreed, slinging his backpack onto his back in preparation to leave. Mingyu followed suit looking slightly cheered by Wonwoo’s assurance. 

“Cool! Well..” he sighed, “I’m heading to my bio class, do you have class now?” 

Wonwoo shook his head, Wednesdays were his empty day. 

“Oh nice!” Mingyu said with a slight smile as they made their way out of Con Hall. The lines of students filing out like ants. 

When they exited, a voice called Mingyu’s name. Both Wonwoo and Mingyu turned to look at the girl approaching at a jog with a big smile on her face. 

“Oh!! Yerin!” Mingyu called, waving in the girl’s direction. “This is Wonwoo, he’s in psych with me.” 

“Nice to meet you!” she said, extending a hand. Wonwoo took her hand and smiled. 

“You too!” he replied. She turned to Mingyu with a mildly bemused look on her face before cupping a hand around her mouth and saying conspiratorially, “You never told me he was so handsome.” Wonwoo gave her an incredulous look. Was she flirting with him? Mingyu had talked about him? He checked Mingyu's face to see that it showed some signs of embarrassment, he was fairly easy to read. He looked like he was about to say something but before Wonwoo or Mingyu could reply, Yerin’s expression suddenly became extremely serious. 

“Are you ready for the bio midterm Gyu?” Yerin asked to an abruptly somber looking Mingyu. 

“Uh…mostly?” he huffed, looking a little caught off guard. “I’m pretty nervous for the long answer though…” Yerin nodded gravely. Wonwoo took the seriousness and imminence of the matter as his cue to leave. 

“Well, I should be going…but nice meeting you Yerin.” he said, “Good luck with the midterm you guys have! See you around.” Immediately her expression switched back to a charming smile. 

“Lovely to meet you too!” she agreed, waving sweetly. Mingyu looked a little flustered. 

“Ah..see you Friday!” he said finally with a wave of his own. Wonwoo gave one last smile and madehis way to the subway station. It seemed that Mingyu’s friends had similarly bright personalities. He smiled to himself as he breathed in the autumn air. He had forgotten how much he liked meeting new people. It was nice to find someone that was easy to talk to, and Mingyu's genuine manner was...charming. Midterm season was definitely off to a good start. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe. Finally more Mingyu!! Guys...I love meanie so much. This has been so fun to write!!! Bohyuk will be in the next chapter! His "ambiguous social science pursuits" embody my university experience tbh...  
> Anyways! feel free to message me here or on [tumblr](http://jin-kiss.tumblr.com/)  
> Thanks as always for your feedback + kudos! Love you all!  
> 


	3. Fate/Coffee Date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu and Wonwoo run into each other again and Wonwoo drinks even more coffee. Mingyu is as bright as ever and Wonwoo feels warm...maybe not just from the coffee? :^) Also Bohyuk is chill...maybe too chill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah...hi! I'm so sorry this took me eight years to update! I got so consumed with school as the semester was wrapping up (but now that I just have exams I finally have time to procrastinate haha) Enjoy!

Thursday rolled around which meant Wonwoo had his other dreaded three hour lecture: “Effective Writing”. He was on the eastbound subway heading to class, which was from 1-3pm, but not because of his commitment to not skip. Honestly, he would have skipped today had his mother not worked from home. As he was skulking around that morning, she had called him out about “bumming around the house” and not “being dedicated” to school. He understood where his mom was coming from but her scolding hadn’t exactly inspired a change in his attitude. He had had trouble sleeping the night before, mostly because of his capacity for worry being turned up to maximum when lying in bed at night. 

What had been incessantly circling his brain was that he was being fake and lying to people because he wasn’t “out of the closet” so to speak. Wonwoo acknowledged the irrationality of this cognition but that didn’t stop him from ruminating on it like a pro. After Mingyu had expressed his interest in their prof, a MAN, so easily in class, Wonwoo had been beating himself up that it wasn’t so simple for him. What was wrong with him that he felt so much angst about it? It wasn’t as if his parents had ever expressed anything homophobic or even his friends and peers; they just had the usual heteronormative outlook on life. 

He could feel himself drifting off to the rhythmic lurch of the subway. Staying up most of the night worrying plus only have one cup of coffee before being chased out of the house by his mom meant that Wonwoo was exhausted as hell. His eyes drifted closed and head lolled to the side. _There should be time to nap_ …he thought and then fell asleep for real. 

Suddenly there was a significant bump and Wonwoo jolted awake. The subway car came to a stop as the automated voice announced: “Arriving at Broadview, Broadview Station”. Wonwoo lept from his seat and out the opening doors. He had missed his stop completely. Once safely on the platform he cursed under his breath and weighed his options. Going back the other way now meant being late for class which was never terribly comfortable but Wonwoo also couldn’t go home with his mother expecting him to be in class. But…he could take this opportunity to explore a bit of the city that he didn’t routinely see. Oh, and get coffee. Coffee was number one as always. 

Finally, with his priorities straight, Wonwoo exited the station onto the street and started scoping for a coffee shop. He was especially partial to little independent places, but runner up was the Starbucks dark roast (especially the Christmas blend…wow). And this being Toronto, there was a Starbucks down the street from the station, just as there was one almost every block of the city. Wonwoo rushed inside, sighing delightfully when the smell of baked goods and coffee hit his nose. The line was just a couple people long so he shuffled in behind the two people ahead of them and stared at the menu, contemplating if he should treat himself to something a little more fancy than just plain old coffee. Just as he came to a decision, dark roast and pumpkin scone, there was what sounded like a shout from across the counter. 

Wonwoo turned his gazed and jumped mildly to see that there were a sharp but warm pair of eyes meeting his. “Wonwoo!” Mingyu said, once again at a decibel level that was undeniably above average. He had a smile stretched across his face to the point where warmth radiated out of him. 

“Yes…it’s me.” Wonwoo replied, smiling back. Mingyu’s demeanour, though somewhat abrasive, was unquestionably charming. Even though they were new friends, or at least acquaintances in Wonwoo’s eyes, his classmate was acting so pleased to see him that it created a burst of happiness Wonwoo felt in his chest. 

Mingyu finished ringing up the person ahead of Wonwoo in line and then directed his gaze back to Wonwoo’s bespectacled face. Wonwoo couldn’t help reciprocating the smile aimed his way. “I can’t believe I ran into you again!” he said to the barista. “I never run into anyone in the city. Plus I just randomly got off at Broadview— missed my stop.” he explained while watching Mingyu’s expressive face react to his words. He was a good listener. 

“No way!” Mingyu responded, looking as genuine as always. “This is like the third time this has happened to us. I guess…” 

“Are you about to be cheesy as hell?” Wonwoo interrupted. Mingyu cleared his throat. 

“…I guess…it must be fate!” Mingyu finished, each word dripping with exaggerated intensity. They both laugh and Wonwoo felt that warmth continue to spread in his chest. “But actually…” Mingyu continued, “I never see anyone from U of T here. I guess its pretty out of the way.” Wonwoo hummed his assent. “SO!” Mingyu all but shouted, “What can I get for you my friend?” He gestured proudly around him as if he was showing off Starbucks as his own. Wonwoo tried not to get too excited at Mingyu’s use of the word ‘friend’. “I know your a coffee person, but are you iced coffee? Frapp? Latte? Macchiato?” Wonwoo’s lip quirked. 

“I’ll go for…a grande dark roast. No room.” he replied. It was his go to order. 

“Sounds…” Mingyu drawled, “…boring.” He laughed as Wonwoo made an annoyed face up at him. But not that far up…he wasn’t _that_ much taller. Mingyu moved further behind the counter and poured Wonwoo’s coffee, handing it to him. 

Wonwoo mummurred his thanks while luxuriating in the smell of coffee that hit his nose. The weight of the cup, the warmth spreading through his hand, the steam coming up to caress his face…motherfucking heavenly. 

“Uh…should I give you two a moment?” Mingyu teased, snapping Wonwoo out of his reverie.He looked up with a smile. 

“Sorry, it’s just true love y’know? True. Love.” he replied, earning another heart fluttering smile from Mingyu. “Oh, could I have a pumpkin scone too?” 

“Sure thing!” Mingyu responded in a chipper Starbucks voice. “So I guess you decided to…spice things up?” Eyebrow wiggling ensued, 

“Was that even a pun?” Wonwoo accused, but couldn’t really be annoyed with that goddamn canine grin aimed at him. Handing over his money, he grabbed the coffee and scone, scanning for a table. There was an empty table for two by the front window so he began to make his way over.

“Oh yeah!” Mingyu called out after him, “I get a break at one which is in like ten minutes, so stick around!” Wonwoo shot him a thumbs up in reply, finding he was smiling again. 

He settled into his seat and immediately pulled out his book but as he read the words blurred and his thoughts drifted. Mingyu was so fucking friendly. It’s not that Wonwoo was emotionless, but people often labelled him “stoic” or “cold”. Perhaps what evoked these labels was his sharp features or somewhat blunt personality but in many ways, Wonwoo wished he had the brightness of a guy like Mingyu. Being a little more external, a little brighter, maybe a lot more friendly seems like it would make life easier. Talking to people in his class, making new friends…coming out to people. 

At that thought, Wonwoo shook his head and tried to re-focus on his reading. He was still on Beloved by Toni Morrison which was engrossing but definitely required some focus to really take in. The words on the page crept out at him, and drew him in slowly but surely. Methodically he took sips of his coffee but the scone lay forgotten as the book ate Wonwoo up. 

“Wonwoo!” Mingyu yelled, adding to the list of times he had broken Wonwoo out of a moment of concentration. His head snapped up and he settled a dazed look at Mingyu, who was now sitting across the table. “Your concentration is unreal.” Mingyu said. “Maybe its the caffeine.” Wonwoo was still a bit out of it so he merely nodded dumbly in response. “Oh, speaking of which,” Mingyu continued, “I brought you another coffee! On the house!” This statement brought Wonwoo back to the real world. 

“Thank you so much!” he said, grasping the cup that Mingyu pushed in his direction. “This is perfect. I usually have at least three cups of coffee a day so this is getting me there. Thanks.” 

“Anytime my guy.” Mingyu preened. “Glad I could help.” He stretched out his long limbs as he sat at the table, scrunching up his nose as he did so. _Cute_ , Wonwoo’s brain involuntarily thought; instead of acknowledging the thought he took a big gulp of the new coffee. “Dude, you haven’t even touched your scone?” Mingyu said, gesturing to the ignored bag. “Those are my favourite…” he prompted raising his eyebrows. This guy…always making Wonwoo smile…it was…nice.

“Why don’t we split it?” Wonwoo suggested, obviously fulfilling Mingyu’s wishes. It was the puppy-dog eyes that were irresistible. Mingyu enthusiastically pulled the bag over to him at that and broke off a piece of the pumpkin scone, unceremoniously shoving it in his mouth. “Whoa, slow down.” he chastised jokingly, “I mean I’m trained in first aide, but I don’t exactly want to use it.” Mingyu laughed through his food, and then began to cough. “Jesus, I was serious!” Wonwoo said. Mingyu just kept coughing, though the grin on his face re-appeared between his hacks. “Hello, my name is Wonwoo and I’m trained in first aide, can I help you?” Wonwoo asked, half serious. “OK sir, it’s going to be alright. Just keep coughing. That’s right. You’re doing so well.” he said, leaning across the table to pat Mingyu’s arm. Mingyu’s coughs were starting to turn into laughter and he swatted at Wonwoo’s hand on his arm. Finally he swallowed and took a gasping breath. 

“What the fuck?” he breathed out, “I thought I was going to die!” Mingyu continued to laugh between gasps. 

“You would have never died,” Wonwoo deadpanned, finally taking his hand away from Mingyu’s arm, “I would have saved your life with my abdominal thrusts.” MIngyu choked again for a second before breaking out into a new burst of laugher. 

“Abdominal thrusts?” he cried, “Isn’t it the Heimlich? Who names these things?” 

“You are behind the times man. Heimlich’s archaic now. But yeah they are basically the same thing.” Wonwoo replied, a smile breaking through his straight man act. He reached for the scone and broke a piece off for himself, revelling in its sugary delights and finishing it off with a swig of coffee. As an after thought he offered up his cup to Mingyu who accepted gratefully and took a healthy swig. _Indirect kiss_ Wonwoo’s unhelpful and annoying brain thought signalling that it was time to move the conversation elsewhere. 

“So, what other classes do you have?” Wonwoo asked, “Besides psych and bio?” 

“Well I’m taking all my life science requirements so, physics, chemistry, and calculus.” Mingyu replied, face falling slightly as he went down the list. “What about you? What are your requirements?”

“Well,” Wonwoo began, “I don’t really have too many…I’m taking psych 100 and then all the art history courses I can but that still leaves a lot of room for electives.” Mingyu looks puzzled at this word. 

“E-electives?” he stutters. “You mean…you get to pick whatever courses you want?” 

“That’s the idea yeah!” Wonwoo laughs. “It’s pretty sweet.  I’m taking a sick course right now called Gender in Pop Culture.” Mingyu looked thunderstruck.

“Pop Culture?” he wheezed, “Sign me up! I mean don’t get me wrong, I love my program. I think…I guess…I mean yeah.” Wonwoo quirked an eyebrow up at him. “I do! It’s just…” he trailed off. 

“Exhausting?” Wonwoo asked. 

“Yeah…” Mingyu replied, thoughtfully, “I really enjoy biology and my physics prof is really cool…but chem labs really kick my ass.” Wonwoo hummed in understanding, though he had never had to take a lab before except in eleventh grade chemistry, which was definitively not a repeating event. “We have to wear goggles in the lab and mine always fog up and shit because its literally 30 degrees in there . And there is so much pressure not to screw up because we have a limited time to do the experiment and stuff…” Mingyu sighed. “At the same time though, it’s really interesting! And hands on stuff is really cool. Especially bio labs!” Wonwoo nodded in response and was about to talk about his tutorials when Mingyu let out a shocked noise. “OH MY GOD.” again with the yelling…but somehow Wonwoo didn’t mind all that much. The other people in the Starbucks had been giving them some side-eyes though. 

“What is it?” Wonwoo asked when Mingyu didn’t divulge right away. He looked stressed as hell. 

“Psych MIDTERM.” Mingyu exclaimed. Wonwoo nodded. “On Monday. Not ready. Really not ready. Like I looked through my notes last night and half of them are just about the prof being really hot.” 

“I don’t know…I can’t really tell if he’s hot…” Wonwoo scoffed and Mingyu looked affronted. 

“Excuse you.” he said, “just because you have some fragile hetero thing happening doesn’t mean-“

“I’m not straight.” Wonwoo cut him off quickly, before even registering what he had just said. His goddamn overactive brain just doing whatever it wants. Wonwoo coughed at the seemingly elongated bout of silence that ensued.

Shit he just came out. Shit. _Wait Mingyu probably doesn’t care? He doesn’t seem straight?_ Wonwoo thought, his brain reeling and his heart rate picking up and his palms getting sweaty. God if he was freaking out this much telling someone he didn’t even know very well how much would he flip out telling his mom?

“Oh, sorry man.” Mingyu said, smiling slightly, “I shouldn’t have assumed….” He trailed off again but didn’t look uncomfortable or unhappy at all….really quite the opposite. “ Anyways, the point is, I’m more screwed than I originally thought.” Wonwoo swallowed thickly, still caught up in what he had just said. He was grateful that Mingyu was moving on so casually though. “I know you said we could study together…but could we maybe do like an intense multi-day study marathon type thing? Maybe?” Mingyu looked pleadingly at Wonwoo. Again with his puppy-dog eyes working their magic and bringing Wonwoo back from his internal freak out; though his heart was still racing. He hoped Mingyu couldn’t hear how fast it was beating. 

“Yeah.” he agreed, “Let’s. I-I uh need to study really badly too…” Mingyu sighed in relief.They decided to start the next day after class and then binge study the whole weekend.

As soon as their plans were set, Wonwoo made an excuse to leave seeing as his heart hadn’t stopped pounding and he needed to calm down before he had a heart attack or something. 

Citing his plans with Bohyuk he successfully excused himself and quickly absconded from the Starbucks. As the distance between him and Mingyu grew and with a few deep breaths, he finally began to calm down. Finally having told someone about his sexuality felt relieving and unsettling at the same time. In a way, Wonwoo regretted that he told Mingyu before anyone else in his life. Not even Soonyoung or his brother knew, and now this practical stranger held such vulnerable info? 

Conversely, Wonwoo felt surprisingly comfortable with Mingyu knowing. Though he couldn’t identify it, something about Mingyu exuded trustworthiness and a sense of security. Wonwoo sighed and settled into his subway seat. Well…he guessed next on the list was Bohyuk.

                                                                                              *                  *                   * 

 

“My broooooo!!!” Bohyuk exclaimed, bringing Wonwoo into a side-hug and slapping him on the back. “How have you been kid?” Wonwoo had met up with his brother at his house in Baldwin Village, which was really close to China Town. It was also the shittiest apartment in the vicinity as far as Wonwoo could tell. The lawn which they stood on now was littered with trash and a broken bicycle. 

“Fine I guess.” Wonwoo replied as Bohyuk kicked the door a couple times to get it open after unlocking it. “School is…fine.” 

“So its that bad, eh?” Bohyuk joked, elbowing Wonwoo in the ribs. He winced and rubbed the spot. “How’s mom and dad?” he asked, shutting the door behind them, again with a few kicks. 

“Busy.” Wonwoo responded, throwing himself down onto the couch. “Mom is still working from home and dad…I don’t even really see him he’s working so much.” Bohyuk nodded and plopped himself down next to his brother.  “But they’re OK. Mom is putting in a lot of hours though, she pretty much never leaves the study.” 

“Unless it’s to yell at you, am I right?” Bohyuk said with a laugh. “Ah…I miss her.” Wonwoo made a noise of assent andtipped his head back onto the couch, closing his eyes. “Are midterms killing you?” his brother inquired. “I’m coping alright but also I’m getting high every day and I don’t have mom to ride my ass about it. Plus I’m going to therapy like twice a month. There’s always therapy.”

Wonwoo considered his brother’s semi-serious proposition quietly. Quite honestly, he had considered it before, the therapy that is. Mostly because of his anxiety around coming out and also anxiety around not coming out...so anxiety in general. Now that he had come out to Mingyu though…and so easily…he felt a lot better about it. Like he had a handle on the whole thing. All it took was the right context and the proper courage and— 

“So…how’s your love life?” Bohyuk asked wiggling his dark eyebrows; his hair was pulled back from his forehead with his ever present snapback. “Are you dating someone?” His brother leaned in toward him with an expectant grin. 

“Yes!” Wonwoo blurted out. _Shit_. He asked himself why he had absolutely no impulse control these days. _Shit shit shit_. Bohyuk looked absolutely stunned. Wonwoo’s head was reeling with his lie. But he knew the intention behind it, however unconsciously it had been constructed. This was his chance to tell Bohyuk about his sexuality. 

“Oh-ho-ho-ho!” Bohyuk sang tauntingly, “Who’s the lucky lady? Is she preeetttyy? Is she ffunnnyyy? Is she-” Wonwoo smacked him into silence. 

“Shut up!” he exclaimed. “It’s…they…” He cleared his throat, “I have a boyfriend.” he said in a small voice. Bohyuk was either incredibly toasted or just not registering Wonwoo’s words for some other reason because he didn’t react at all. Wonwoo sat in tense silence as Bohyuk slowly developed a confused look on his face and turned to stare at the wall opposite them. 

“Wait…” Bohyuk drawled, “what did you say? Repeat that?” Wonwoo sighed, trying to keep up a front of nonchalance while his heart was doing somersaults. 

“I…have a boyfriend.” he repeated, thankful that his voice came across one hundred times more sturdy than how he felt. He could see the cogs in his brother’s mind gradually creak into action.

Wonwoo pressed his palms into the fabric of his jeans, trying to focus on the sensation of the material under his hands and not on how much he was freaking out. 

Finally, after eight years of silence, Boyuk turned back to his brother and said: “OK…that’s….great.” Wonwoo choked out a breath he had been holding and his arms fell lax at his sides.. “What’s uh…what’s his name?” Bohyuk asked innocently. _Shit_. Of course he gets the reaction he wanted and its based on a lie. Not being able to hesitate for too long, he says the first name that pops in his head. 

“Mingyu.” Wonwoo replies with no hesitation. _Fuck_. He pulled the beanie off his head to rake his hands through his hair nervously. This was probably the worst possible way he could tell Bohyuk he’s into men. The absolute worst. 

“OK…nice.” Bohyuk said, now tentatively smiling. “So…you’re gay?” 

“No…” Wonwoo replied, slightly exasperated. “I still…uh…like women.” Bohyuk hummed in understanding and stretched out again on the couch, effectively slinging an arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders. Wonwoo turned his beanie around in his hands. He may have fucked up, but he fucked up in a way that was so goddamn relieving that it felt justified. Already, he was turning the fabricated story around in his head, trying to come up with realistic details and a plan so that his “relationship” could end before Bohyuk found out it was all a lie. 

“Wanna smoke a bowl?” Bohyuk asked, finally breaking the silence.

It was moments like these that Wonwoo felt incredibly blessed by how chill his older brother truly was. 

“Sure.” Wonwoo replied with a smile. “And maybe you can tell me about your love life?” Bohyuk laughed bitterly in response and got up to go downstairs to grab his bong. Wonwoo remained on the couch, his heart rate finally going back to normal. He pulled his beanie back on and took a deep breath, scrunching his eyes tightly shut. Telling Bohyuk had partially removed the weight Wonwoo felt he was constantly living with but his lie had also opened up a new pressure on himself. At the same time, Wonwoo knew that if impulsiveness was one of his weaknesses, being imaginative was his greatest strength. He had some confidence that he could come up with a way to cover up his lie. 

The two brothers smoked together in comfortable light conversation. They lovingly complained about their parents, school, and Bohyuk complained about his house’s rat infestation a little less than lovingly. When the evening rolled around and Wonwoo got up to leave, Bohyuk pulled him into a hug. “I love you bro.” he said, again patting his back a little too forcefully. In that moment though, Wonwoo didn’t feel like complaining. He was so relieved and so thankful for his brother’s burst of affection; he hugged back harder. 

“I love you too.” he said back, “Thank you.” 

Bohyuk pulled away and grinned at his younger brother, sending him off with a wave. Wonwoo felt a combination of lightness and the weight of worry on his trip home. Overall though, this coming out thing was going pretty well. If he was going down the list…maybe Soonyoung next? His mom was right; being productive felt great.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading as always! Love each and every one of you! *blows kisses* Writing stuff set in Toronto is so fun!!! When winter comes in the story...expect Mingyu to be bitter as hell. But aren't we all, eh? lol  
> Wonwoo's love of coffee (and of Mingyu >>) is inspired by me :)))  
> I tried to keep Wonwoo's experiences coming out as bi as loosely based on my own. For me, it was a big pressure and caused me a lot of anxiety. In the end, having a supportive group of friends is what helped me out the most! Just know there are lots of people going through the same thing! And that coming out isn't always the right thing-- only if it's safe for you!!! and you feel like it's right!!!  
> Your feedback is always always always appreciated so please comment here or message me on [tumblr](http://jin-kiss.tumblr.com/)  
> ! I'm thinking about writing a bit from Mingyu's perspective? Any thoughts?  
> Thanks again ♡♡♡


	4. Midterms = Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo and Mingyu study for their Psych midterm. Their friendship (and Wonwoo's crush) gets to that weird tired study level. Plus Wonwoo meets some more of Mingyu's friends...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listening to: [Anna Wiebe!](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rycLdWnoq36EtweEogjeb?autoplay=true&v=A)  
> 

Three times a week was simply too much psych Wonwoo decided. With the imminency of their first midterm weighing heavily, the Friday class felt more like a wake than a lecture. Sitting next to Wonwoo, Mingyu was emanating doom and gloom but the former was too distracted by his anxiety to do any comforting. Wonwoo was feeling hyper aware of Mingyu’s presence after what he perceived to be the stupidest mistake he’s ever made: using Mingyu’s name as the name of his ‘boyfriend’ when coming out to Bohyuk. 

When he glanced to his left again, he noticed Mingyu had momentarily stopped his motionless brooding and was pulling container after container out of his backpack. When he pulled out a second thermos, Wonwoo couldn’t stay quiet any longer. 

“How much food do you need for nine in the morning?” he asked with a hint of teasing. Mingyu shot him a grumpy look. 

“Fuck off.” he snapped. “I’m stressed OK? I need something to distract me from how I’m going to die on Monday.” Wonwoo chuckled as Mingyu picked up a muffin and took an aggressive bite. He reached out to the now furiously eating blonde and patted his shoulder before his brain caught up to his actions and could read anything into it. Mingyu looked up at him and slowly offered a box of timbits. Wonwoo accepted and pulled out a chocolate one, his favourite. 

“Listen,” Wonwoo began, mouth partially full of chocolate timbit, “don’t worry too much. We made plans to study right?” Mingyu paused mid-chew and nodded seriously. “Plus,” Wonwoo continued, “I am an amazing studier so I guarantee that we’ll pass. No matter what, OK?” Mingyu looked soothed by this statement. He swallowed thickly and reached out to Wonwoo’s sleeve, grasping it lightly in his left hand. Wonwoo felt a jolt run up his arm and straight to his heart at the contact. Mingyu looked up with a startling sincerity in his eyes. 

“Thank you Wonwoo…” he said quietly, tugging slightly on Wonwoo’s sleeve. Wonwoo’s heart was beating a mile a minute - shocked into silence by Mingyu’s sincerity and physical touch. But, all too soon, or maybe not soon enough, the moment was over and Mingyu was back to stuffing his face now with what looked to be banana bread. Though he was slightly less frantic now, Wonwoo realized how much pressure his classmate (fake boyfriend) put on himself when it came to school. After hearing that Mingyu was in Life Science, he knew that his high school grades must have been fucking amazing, but whether or not that carried into university was an entirely different question. With the extreme stress and passion with which Mingyu was stuffing his face, Wonwoo knew that he truly cared about school and his grades. With that in mind, he proceeded to book a study room at Robart’s library for them to use later that day. 

“What time are you free to start studying today? I have a lit tutorial until 1 and then a lecture, but I think I’m going to skip it…” Wonwoo asked his classmate (fake boyfriend, his mind repeated), who was now slurping on a thermos of soup. Mingyu gulped the soup down that was in his cheeks and replied:

“YEAH! Let’s meet at 1:30?” He looked at Wonwoo expectingly with a genuine smile on his face and a little crumb on the corner of his lips that Wonwoo had to suppress the urge to wipe away. Wonwoo agreed with the time and explained his plans to book a study room. 

The rest of the lecture passed in somewhat of a blur for Wonwoo what with the lecture material from that day not being present on their exam Monday and with Mingyu who sat there eating a little too loudly, which was strangely endearing. 

The two parted with promises of meeting in the study room at 1:30. 

All of Wonwoo’s Literature tutorial he was distracted with a nagging worry. Worry twofold had settled in him, what with the looming psych exam and with his growing awareness of Mingyu as a Hot Guy. And not only hot, but passionate, adorkable, caring, friendly…Wonwoo shook his head to retrieve his thoughts back to class from their wayward pining. 

In no time at all, the two psychology students met in the study room accordingly at 1:30. It was a bright room on the fifth floor of Robart’s library, with ample space and a large table in the centre. The big window that made up the back wall looked out over the city. 

Wonwoo was in the process of laying out his pre-made flashcards when he noticed Mingyu’s stare was glued to Wonwoo’s face. He looked a little dim when staring off like that, Wonwoo thought, despite his model-like facial features. 

“Hey, Mingyu.” he said to break him from his trance, but he didn't react. “Hey. Earth to Mingyu.” Wonwoo continued, moving himself into Mingyu’s space to break his reverie. Mingyu finally seemed to take a breath and return to the present plane of reality. 

“You…have flash cards.” He stuttered out with absolute despair reading on his face. Wonwoo smiled slightly at this. 

“I told you I am an amazing studier!” Wonwoo said with a smile, “Don’t worry if you don’t have flashcards or whatever, we’ll get through it together. You’re bringing your energy! And your willingness to study which is just as fucking vital as any notes.” With that Wonwoo clamped a hand on Mingyu’s shoulder that said, “hey bro, I’m your bro and definitely not gay for you, but I care about you bro”…or at least that was what he aimed for. When Mingyu looked up at him in relief with a flash of a beautiful, glowing smile…well the not gay part maybe floated away a bit. It was easy to get caught up in such a smile, which was so genuine and warm…Wonwoo stared for a beat too long. Finally realizing his mistake he removed his hand from Mingyu’s shoulder, awkwardly shuffling back into a chair and averting his gaze. He felt the unmistakable heat of a blush reaching up to his ears and cursed himself. Trying to remember that Mingyu was a clearly only platonic study buddy. 

Mingyu began to unpack his bag, which turned out to be full of snacks. Chips, candy, wasabi peas, Kombucha. He had really gone all out with the food. 

“Ok. So we have the room until like, 5? So maybe then we can take a break and get something to eat and then keep going later?” Wonwoo asked, now back to focusing on school (via forcing his brain to stop thinking about Romantic Feelings). Mingyu nodded very seriously in response. 

“I think I need to study all night. Like all night tonight and probably tomorrow?” Mingyu said in a worried tone. “Please remind me that I won’t die.” he pleaded to Wonwoo while reaching to grip the other boy’s sleeve for the second time that day. “And by die I mean fail.” His hand flexed its grip over Wonwoo’s long sleeve T-shirt and his soul seemed to be trying to escape his body through his head, because his brain was suddenly tingling and he mildly felt like fainting. 

“Y-yeah.” he breathed out, “I promise, we’ll study as much as we need to. We won’t die.” The last part of this sentence felt like a lie. Wonwoo definitely could see himself dying from coming down with Real Feelings. Not to mention that it seemed impossible that these real feelings would be like, a mutual thing. “OK- Let’s start.” Wonwoo said after a moment of silence. Mingyu nodded enthusiastically. “Right. How about I ask a multiple choice question?” 

“Sure.” Mingyu replied.

“Alright,” Wonwoo cleared his throat, “Which of the following may be a direct consequence of an IPSP? a) a new action potential in the pre-synaptic neuron, b) sodium channels close in the post-synaptic membrane, c) potassium channels open in the pre-synaptic neuron, or d) an accumulation of large organic proteins in the post-synaptic membrane?” Mingyu scrunched his nose in distaste at the question. 

“OK…” He said slowly, “so IPSP is a…something postsynaptic potential…So it’s not a new action potential. So not a)” Wonwoo nodded encouragingly. “Sodium ions are positive…OH wait! The ‘I’ stands for inhibitory? So, it’s not the protein answer.” He ran a hand through his hair in thought while Wonwoo stared. “Potassium ions are positive…sodium ions are positive…hmm. Would it be b? I’m kinda guessing—“

“That’s it!” Wonwoo replied, as a grin spread across his face. “It’s because after a inhibitory postsynaptic potential, the postsynaptic neuron is going to be less likely to produce an action potential— so the sodium channels would close.” 

“Whoa…” Mingyu said with a look of awe. “You really get this stuff! You’re like legitimately smart!” Wonwoo immediately reddened at his comment. “You didn’t even read that off of anything!” Wonwoo shrugged,but kept a smile on his face from the compliment. 

“Do you want to have half of the flashcards?” Wonwoo asked, trying to get them back on track and off of the track that made him blush. “Just, if you don’t have notes or whatever?” Wonwoo picked up half the cards and offered them up. Mingyu took the cards gratefully, flashing his ridiculously adorable canine teeth. 

“Yeah!” He replied. “Definitely, thanks.” He reached out and grabbed the cards from Wonwoo’s hand, seeming enthusiastic about the whole thing. Maybe studying would go quickly and painlessly with Mingyu’s energy around…or so Wonwoo thought.

 

* * *

 

By the time 4pm rolled around: Mingyu had his face down on the table in front of him, Wonwoo had been staring at a blank wall for almost 5 minutes straight in silence, and Mingyu’s carefully packed snack supply had been completely depleted. A heavy, ominous mood covered the study room. 

Mingyu was the first to break the oppressive silence. "Foooooooddd." he grumbled, his head barely moving from its resting position on the table. "Wonwoo." 

Wonwoo turned his head slowly and made a noise of assent, which was some kind of grunt in the back of his throat. He pushed his chair back and stood up, his knees cracking in the process. 

"Wonwoooo." Mingyu moaned again, something that brought Wonwoo back to a more present state as Mingyu's gravelly voice stirred something in his chest. "I can't get up." Mingyu stated. He reached up with grabby hands in Wonwoo's direction. Nervously, but obligingly, Wonwoo stepped to him and grasped his hands firmly, hoisting him to a standing position.

Mingyu stumbled slightly and bumped into Wonwoo, keeping their grasp intact to keep their balance, and bringing them close together. 

Wonwoo stepped back hastily. “Food.” he affirmed belatedly. He bit his lower lip nervously and wrung his hands together with a quick glance shot in Mingyu’s direction. Mingyu seemed a little more awake after the stumble, his cheeks slightly pink. “Uh…should we just get the Starbucks from downstairs?” he asked. “Or do you have some like, don’t eat where you work thing?” 

“Nah, that sounds good! I have a bit of a Starbucks loyalty thing happening.” Mingyu replied with chuckle. “Trying to get those dental benefits before my wisdom teeth need to get taken out. So I'm pretty much a Starbucks fanboy.” Wonwoo smiled at that. 

“Ahh, the infamous Starbucks benefits.” he quipped. Then, his stomach decided to make a loud growl.

“Alright, let’s get food.” Mingyu said with a smile. “And coffee!” he added after a pause of thought. Wonwoo agreed enthusiastically and accompanied Mingyu’s wide stride to that took them quickly to the elevators. 

As they stood next to each other in silence, Wonwoo took a glance at Mingyu, who stood slouching on his right. Wonwoo liked that they were a similar height, though Mingyu was ever so slightly taller. He liked that Mingyu was seemingly so confident in his skin, oblivious to any stares or up and down looks he received— instead, focusing on the person he was with. Or the food that was in front of him. Or whatever he was daydreaming about. 

The elevator ping-ed its arrival; Wonwoo and Mingyu shuffled in, pushing the button for the main floor of the library. The ride down was done so in comfortable silence. 

Starbucks at the library was usually overrun by students but it seemed that they had come down at a good time and hit a rare lull. 

As they approached the cash, Wonwoo couldn’t help but notice the exceedingly attractive cashiers. What was with Starbucks and hiring beautiful people? Shouldn’t they be hiring  people who like really need the benefits? People with bad teeth? Instead, he was faced with these two. 

After decisively choosing the less intimidating one, Wonwoo went up to order but was interrupted by Mingyu, who gave out his usual shout of greeting. 

“Ah! Mingyu.” the young woman on the first cash said with a slight grin. Mingyu waved and walked up to the counter. “You didn’t come to my party last weekend.” The grin she had previously been sporting quickly turned into an over-exaggerated pout. 

“Uh-oh Mingyu,” the other cashier said with a sarcastic smile, “you’re a brave man to cross Sooyoung’s path.” The woman, Sooyoung, whipped her head to glare at her coworker. Instead of responding, he blew her a quick kiss.

“Ah, Sooyoung. I’m so sorry about missing your party.” Mingyu said. He rested his arms on the counter and looked up into Sooyoung’s face. “You know that you’re usually my number one priority— but I got overwhelmed with school.” Sooyoung scoffed at his response, throwing in an eye-roll for good measure. 

“Well don’t expect me to serve you today.” she said. Wonwoo couldn’t be sure if she was joking or actually completely serious but he didn’t get to find out because her coworker lightly smacked her in the back of her head. 

“Listen Sooyoung.” he said, surprisingly threatening for such a beautiful person. “I may be your friend, but I’m also your manager. Meaning that I can fire you~” He flashed her a dazzling smile at that. Then, looking past Mingyu, he caught Wonwoo’s eye. “Oh. Mingyu, is he with you?” He was tall, broad, and ridiculously handsome.

Mingyu turned around and smiled. “Oh, yeah! This is my friend Wonwoo.” Sooyoung and the other cashier turned suddenly to face each other and shared a knowing looking. Wonwoo shifted uncomfortably between feet but waved in greeting none the less. “These are my friends Sooyoung and Seokjin.” Wonwoo stepped up and shook both their hands successively. Both had a funny glint in their eyes. 

“Such a pleasure to finally meet you.” Seokjin said smoothly. 

“Do you model? You have the build and face of a model.” he continued quickly, giving Wonwoo an approving glance up and down. Again, his eyes shone with something slightly mischievous. Wonwoo was a bit too stunned to reply right away. He always knew he had the physique of a model, or so he supposed. He was tall and slim, but he never considered his face to be anywhere close to what he saw in fashion. To hear someone say so, and so directly left him flustered. 

Mingyu, sensing his stunned state, interjected before Wonwoo had a chance to reply. “Seokjin, don’t be like this.” 

“What am I like?” he said smoothly. Mingyu simply let out an exasperated sigh in reply. “OK, OK. I get it. I’ll stop bothering your model friend.” Sooyoung giggled at her coworker's antics. “What can I get for you two handsome scholars?” 

Wonwoo breathed a sigh of relief. Not that he hated meeting new people, or even that he was too too anxious, but after studying for so long and having class earlier in the day, his brain felt absolutely fried. “Venti dark roast.” Wonwoo ordered to Seokjin as Sooyoung began to take Mingyu’s order next to him. Wonwoo also went to grab a wrap from the fridge display in beside the cash. “And this.” 

“Mmm, good taste.” Seokjin said, smiling genuinely his way. “These black bean wraps are delicious. I’ll heat it up for you.” Wonwoo thanked him , more relaxed now that the conversation had returned to normal. After paying and receiving his coffee, he shifted a bit further down the counter to wait for his wrap. Looking to his left, Mingyu had unsurprisingly bought a number of pastries which he now carried in a large Starbucks branded bag. He shuffled over to where Wonwoo stood, looking significantly brighter than a bit earlier in the elevator and study room. Wonwoo flashed him a smile. 

“Thank god for carbs and caffeine.” Mingyu said, now full on grinning. 

“Gyu!” Sooyoung shouted probably louder than necessary. “You better be coming to my party next Thursday to make up for last time.” She had one hand on her hip and looked immensely serious. “Oh,” her face softened, “and bring Wonwoo.” Sooyoung then turned to Wonwoo and winked. 

“Fine _Joy_ …if you insist.” Mingyu scoffed. There was playfulness in the tone in his voice but also something like annoyance. A crease formed between Sooyoung’s eyebrows. 

“Only Yerim gets to call me that Mingyu and you know it.” she said with venom. “And even she narrowly avoids murder.”

Mingyu cleared his throat, seemingly a bit intimidated by her threat. “You’re coming next Thursday.” 

“Fine.”

“And you’re bringing Wonwoo.” 

“Fine.” 

“And Seokjin,” she now turned to her fellow employee, “you are also coming.” He quirked an eyebrow at this. 

“You have no leverage over me.” he said, though seemed to simultaneously think it through to make sure he was right. 

“Free food?” she inquired. Soekjin’s eyebrow remained quirked, still considering. “I will make you a fancy cocktail?” she nudged further. Still Seokjin seemed unconvinced. “Many fancy cocktails.” she said with finality. At this, she had finally pushed him over the edge. 

“Fine.” he agreed. “I’ll be there if Mingyu and Wonwoo will be.” He smiled again, his face scrunching up this time, looking genuine. 

“I…” Wonwoo began, but before he could speak Mingyu interjected. 

“You don’t have to go.” He said very seriously. Sooyoung shot him a look. “I’m sorry my friends can be sort of pushy.” Mingyu had lowered his voice in an attempt not to be scolded. 

“It’s OK.” Wonwoo said. And really, it was OK. Seokjin and Sooyoung were pretty intimidating, but it felt nice that they were showing interest in him. Plus Wonwoo was curious as to why Mingyu’s friends always seemed to know him before they had ever met. 

“OK then…let me take you out next Thursday to make it up to you for all the studying help.” Mingyu said. Wonwoo was flustered by his words. It seemed to dawn on Mingyu what he just said. “Wait— no not like, take you out. I mean…if you…um. No, I mean we can go to Sooyoung’s party and I’ll pay for your alcohol? If you drink?” Mingyu’s face had turned an unmistakable  shade of pink that made Wonwoo’s heart rate increase. The peanut gallery of Sooyoung and Seokjin were audibly giggling. 

“Yeah.” Wonwoo replied, surprised by the steadiness of his own voice. “I drink. And that sounds nice. Really nice.” He smiled at Mingyu to the point where the taller broke eye contact with a flustered look. Since Wonwoo had never even been in a real relationship or even engaged in ‘flirting’ if that was even a real thing, he found Mingyu’s actions hard to read. 

Thankfully, the buzzer on the Starbuck’s warming oven buzzes to end the moment. Seokjin handed him his wrap with a wink, to which Wonwoo replied with a curt nod. Mingyu had already made his way towards the tables and turned to wave Wonwoo along with him. 

The two slid into chairs opposite each other across a small table. Mingyu groaned as he sat down and cracked open his cup smelling its contents with pleasure.

“I guess it is true…” Wonwoo heard himself say. Shit. That was out loud.

“What’s true?” Mingyu asked. Being a bit over tired, very hungry, and physically stiff from sitting in that study room lead to perfect conditions for Wonwoo’s honesty. 

“Really hot people are friends with other really hot people.” Wonwoo replied after only a moments pause. “They attract each other as friends somehow…” 

“So…you’re saying I’m really hot?” Mingyu asked. An incredibly wide smile has spread across his face. Wonwoo did not deign a reply this time. “So you’re saying Seokjin and Sooyoung are really hot.” Wonwoo gave a non-committal shrug. “So you are saying you are really hot?” Mingyu grinned.

“No—I mean…” Wonwoo spluttered, “Well…whatever. I guess the rule isn’t entirely perfect. Don’t get me wrong. I’m hot but…I’m not really hot, you know?” Mingyu just grinned and drank from his hot coffee in response. Wonwoo grumpily took a bite out of his wrap, sighing into the delicious cheesy bite. Thank good for carbs and caffeine…just like Mingyu said. 

“Alright, hotness aside— do you want to come back to my residence to keep studying there?” Mingyu asked. “I think I need a change of scenery. Old Turkey here is starting to bring me down.” 

“Sure.” Wonwoo replied slowly. “That…sounds good.” 

“Perfect!” Mingyu said at a high volume, drawing some grumbles from nearby students. “I am so lucky to have you!” 

Wonwoo thinks his heart might explode by the end of the day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been so long since an update!!! My darn life got pretty hectic. Thank you so much for reading - and thanks again for the kudos! Please comment your thoughts, feelings, ramblings, etc!!!  
> Come yell at me/with me on my [tumblr](http://jin-kiss.tumblr.com/)  
> I will try to update more regularly and have the story finished by the end of April???


	5. Caught in a Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo and Mingyu study some more. Wonwoo comes out to his mom...oops.
> 
> And finally they all get trashed one fateful Thursday night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listening to: [Airplane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O_MwlZ2dEg)  
> 

After hoursof classical conditioning, Hebbian learning, Naive Realism, isomerization of pigments in photoreceptors, enough talk of Ganglion cells to kill a man, etc. etc. Wonwoo and Mingyu were both down for the count. They had ended up in Mingyu’s room in residence (which was incredibly clean!). He lived in a New College res on the fourth floor and though he had a double room, he lived in it alone because apparently his roommate got sent home by his parents since his marks started to slide. 

The large amount of coffee from Starbucks had sustained them for a long time, and a later coffee break at 8pm had kept that caffeine high going. But now, at around 2am, the caffeine crash was upon them. Both were face down in the two beds of Mingyu’s room and a sleepy silence had fallen over them. Wownoo’s brain was a mess of psych jargon and thoughts of food. It was finally the latter that motivated him to lift his head off of the mattress. 

“Mingyu…” he said in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb him if he was asleep. “Hey, Mingyu. Are you awake?” At this, Mingyu finally responded with a dull groan. He rolled onto his side so that he faced in Wonwoo’s direction. 

“No.” he replied in a croaky voice. “I’m actually dead, Wonwoo. Psych…killed me.” Wonwoo grumbled an assent. 

“Yeah. I’m dead too.” he agreed verbally. “But, I’m also hungry somehow?” He sat up in the bed and swung his feet over the edge. ”Like, very hungry.” He stared blankly into the wall when Mingyu’s only response was a moan. He was so fucking tired he felt like he couldn’t even move his eyes. 

Mingyu suddenly shuffled into a sitting position on his bed. Wonwoo slowly shifted his gaze to face him across the room. He was staring at Wonwoo with wide eyes, again a distinctive pink flush had covered his cheeks and reached the tip of his ears. Wonwoo, in his state of fatigue, vaguely decided to ignore any possible implications Mingyu’s expression had and focus solely on getting food. 

“Pizza.” he said decisively. “We’re ordering pizza.” Mingyu did not respond at all, still staring at Wonwoo’s face. Wonwoo continued to ignore him, choosing instead to fish his phone out of his pocket and flip to his pizzapizza app. He’d be damned if he wasn’t ordering some goddamn cheese pizza. Right. The fuck. Now. 

After a successful order, he turned to Mingyu again.

“Hey man.” he started. “Do you have any beer? I just ordered a pizza and like…beer right now would be so good.” This seemed to break Mingyu out of his previous trance. 

“Yeah.” he responded. He still looked a little dazed, but he now shifted up and out of bed, heading over to the corner of his room where the mini-fridge lived. He pulled out a couple of cans and tossed one to Wonwoo. Wonwoo caught it, opened it, and blissfully took a sip. 

“God.” he said. “This Psych class is so killer and we’re only half way through our first year.” Mingyu groaned into his beer. “How the hell am I going to make it through another three and a half years?” Mingyu looked up at him, maybe to check if his question was rhetorical. Finally, after a beat of silence, he responded. 

“I really think you can make it through just fine.” he said. Wonwoo stared. “More than just fine, even.” Mingyu stood up and crossed the room to sit down next to Wonwoo on the bed. “You’re incredibly smart. And beyond that, you are amazingly dedicated and organized.” Wonwoo couldn’t help but feel his heart rate increase under the praise. 

“Thank you…” he responded in a quiet voice. “Really, you too. You are so passionate about school. I really—” Wonwoo was interrupted by his phone ringing. He answered and found that it was the pizza delivered. Having campus right in the middle of downtown sure made for quick food delivery. Mingyu insisted on going down to pick it up considering Wonwoo had paid for it. As Mingyu left, 

While Mingyu was out of the room, Wonwoo had a moment alone to collect himself. He felt absolutely worn out. School had really been taking its toll on him, when he thought about it. He tried to feel OK about being alone much of the time. He had made a few acquaintances along the way, but no one he spent time with. Wonwoo allowed himself a moment then to fully miss Soonyoung. He opened his phone and pulled up their text conversation. He missed seeing his best friend every day, talking him out of doing stupid shit, discussing existential questions, and complaining about school. 

He decided then to invite Soonyoung to come and visit, citing his night out with Mingyu as an incentive for him to come during the week. 

After he sent out the message, his thoughts returned to who his current friends were. Or friend really…if he could call Mingyu that. 

He felt as though he was taking this crush on Mingyu a bit too far. First off, he hardly knew him, literally one week of knowing someone was…nothing. He could be a murderer for all he knew. He shook his arms out and stood up to stretch out his legs. Usually it took a long time for Wonwoo to warm up to people. Not that he was haughty or pretentious or anything, just, cautious. 

At that thought, Mingyu returned with the pizza wearing a big smile on his face. They ate greedily and crushed a couple of beers along with the food. The conversation flowed naturally between them, taking about their classes, what high school had been like, and their respective families. 

By the time 4am hit, they were both beyond exhausted. Mingyu was lying in his bed and Wonwoo sat with his back propped up against the bed across the room.

“Hey Wonwoo.” Mingyu said after they had sat in silence for a while. 

“Mmhmm?” 

“Thank you.” he said. 

“Anytime.” Wonwoo replied, and he really meant it. 

“You’re sleeping here, right?” Mingyu asked. His hand propped up his head in his prostrate position on the bed. 

“Oh…uh if that’s ok with you.” Wonwoo replied. He was grateful for the invitation. The thought of taking the subway all the way home made him want to cry. 

“Of course! You can stay over anytime.” Mingyu said. “If that’s not like…weird or whatever.” Wonwoo laughed. 

“No man. That’s not weird.” he said. “Really, thank you.” 

With that he slipped out of his clothes leaving on his boxers, grateful again that the bed was made up. Mingyu threw him a pillow off of his bed and Wonwoo tried not to think anything weird as he rested his head on it. But it _did_ smell good. Luckily his tired brain decided not to dwell on that cognition. 

“We’re going to get the biggest breakfast tomorrow.” Mingyu said in a mumble. “Waffles…whipped cream…strawberries…bacon…scrambled eggs…toast…sugar cereal…mangoes…tea…donuts…” 

And Wonwoo fell deeply asleep to the listing off of breakfast foods. He dreamt of eating and of Mingyu.

 

* * *

 

Wonwoo unlocked the door to his house with some effort. His late night of studying had left him absolutely exhausted today, despite the big breakfast he and Mingyu had eaten before Mingyu had to head to work. He stepped in with a sigh and kicked off his shoes in the foyer.

“Wonwoo, where have you been?” his mother’s voice filtered out from the living room, in a tone that struck fear and guilt into his bones. “I have been calling you, texting you all night and got no response.” Wonwoo shuffled guiltily into the living room. Even though he was technically an adult, his mother was as protective as always. Usually he didn’t mind, but today it struck a point of irritation within him. 

“Look…sorry mom. I was out—“

“Don’t give me ‘sorry’!” she interrupted. “I was so worried about you! It’s hard enough on me to have your brother cut me out of his life almost completely,” Wonwoo rolled his eyes at this exaggeration, “but now to have you not even responding to me? For hours?” She was up out of her seat now, her voice gaining volume. Wonwoo kept his gaze wearily in her direction. 

“I just need you to tell me where you were.” she said, voice steady. “And I need you to keep better contact with me. I worry.” 

He sighed, feeling sorry for having forgotten to message her the night before. However, something else was bubbling up in the back of his mind, urging his mouth to say something, something he might regret but which was practically bursting from the seams of his brain and lungs.

“I was with someone.” he said quietly and a bit slowly. His mother quirked an eyebrow at him. 

“Who?” she asked. 

Wonwoo swallowed thickly, then replied: “My boyfriend.” His heart was pounding out of his chest as the words left his lips. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his mom, instead staring off to the right of her head. 

She remained completely silent and still. Wonwoo felt as though his head was full of un-diffusible pressure. When his mom remind quiet for a beat longer, he decided to make his escape. He walked quickly and purposefully to his room, shutting the door brusquely behind him. 

Wonwoo crumpled to the floor with his body leaning against the door, head banging on the way down. His breath came out in shaky rasps and he felt his eyes and nose prick with tears. 

Goddamn his impulsive self just saying whatever the fuck it wants. He had such a careful plan to come out to his mom and that moment of defiance had shattered it with a distressing finality. Wonwoo wished his mom had said something, anything in reply. Even if she had been angry it would be better than the ambiguity of her silence. 

He spent the rest of the day hidden away in his room. Sustaining himself on the odd snack he had hoarded away in his room. Wonwoo knew hiding away was a bit childish, but he honestly felt that he couldn’t deal with his mother or really any of the world outside his room. He opened his laptop, trying to distract himself with watching movie after movie on Netflix.

By the time evening rolled around, Mingyu started messaging him. When Wonwoo ignored his messages he started to receive calls. The two had planned to meet up that evening to continue their studying but Wonwoo was in full hermit mode now, which meant there would be no possible way he would leave the house. 

Finally, before he drifted off to sleep, Wonwoo sent Mingyu a simple text reading: _Sorry, meet at Emmanuel College Library? Tomorrow at ten?_

Mingyu replied: _Ok!! sounds good—Hope you are OK._

 

* * *

 

When Wonwoo met up with Mingyu the next day, having successfully snuck out of his house without running into his mom, he was feeling a disconcerting mix of relief and anxiety. It seemed as though some of that confusion was showing on his face, because as soon as Mingyu saw Wonwoo and greeted him in their meeting place (the library, this time Emmanuel College) his face wrinkled with concern. 

“Wonwoo…” he began, “did something happen yesterday? Are you OK?” Wonwoo shivered under his genuinely concerned look, taking a breath before responding. 

“I came out to my mom.” he replied. 

“Oh…” Mingyu said , uncertainly.

“It…uh…didn’t go badly per say.” Wonwoo continued, “But didn’t really go well either?” He felt the need to explain to Mingyu what had occurred. It felt natural talking to him. Mingyu was nodding empathetically. “I told her yesterday when I got home and then…she just didn’t reply at all. I half expected her to yell or cry or something, so her silence just…threw me off?” He shrugged. He stared up into the eyes of one of the oil portraits that hung in the entrance of the library.

“Hmm…I think she’ll probably come around?” Mingyu said. “I mean I can’t say for sure but, I came out to my mom while I was in high school and at first she pretended like I never told her. But over time she acknowledged it and ended up supporting me. So…maybe it’ll be like that for you too?”

Wonwoo shrugged in response. “Umm…How did you tell her?” Mingyu asked innocently. Wonwoo felt a frog suddenly jump into his throat. 

“I…lied.” he replied and tried to ignore his difficulty breathing. 

“Oh shit.” Mingyu said. 

“Yeah…I uh…told her I have a boyfriend. And I don’t.” he said. “Have a boyfriend, I mean.” Mingyu nodded, he took everything Wonwoo said very seriously, though now that Wonwoo had said it out loud, he realized how ridiculous the situation sounded. “Anyways…want to start studying? I think it’ll help me get my mind off of things.” 

“For sure!” Mingyu replied and together they made their way up the stairs to study. 

The time they spent studying chugged along, Wonwoo’s mind much less focused than during their Friday study session. Despite his distracted mind, he felt fairly comfortable with all of the material, and was thankful for having had Mingyu to study with. Mingyu also seemed quite confident and they parted ways in a tired state but in high spirits. 

Now all that was left, Wonwoo thought, was to avoid his mother for the rest of his life. Sunday night he was successful, but Monday morning, the day of his exam, he passed by her before he was able to make it out the door. His mom, however, did not try and engage him at all, instead silently sat at the kitchen table reading a newspaper. Wonwoo, now quite successful at ignoring probably important things in his life, decided to ignore this behaviour as well. He slipped outside without a word and made his way to campus. 

The exam was tough, but the studying he had done with Mingyu had prepared him for the most part. When he arrived back home, he got a text from Mingyu thanking him for studying together and also revealing that Mingyu had come down with a bad cold— looking like he would probably still be down for the count by Wednesday and unable to attend their class together. 

Wonwoo trudged through Tuesday and Wednesday in a quiet moody way. The monotony of class was only broken up by his texting with Soonyoung, who had agreed to come visit in about a weeks time. 

It wasn’t until Wednesday evening that Wonwoo remembered Mingyu’s promise of repayment for the studying help. 

Wonwoo looked at his phone in confusion. A few minutes later, he decided to reply and he got an immediate response. 

It was then that Mingyu’s promise of taking Wonwoo to Sooyoung’s party resurfaced in his mind.He wasn’t exactly in the mood to go to a party, aka. he was still in hermit mode, but he wanted to be there since he had already told Mingyu he would go. He sent a quick affirmative note to Seokjin and prayed that tomorrow night went smoothly. 

 

* * *

 

Wonwoo arrived at Sooyoung’s apartment at the same time as Mingyu. Mingyu looked way too good in tight black jeans, a leather jacket, and a loose fitting goosebumps t-shirt that left his collarbones visible to the world. Wonwoo had put in contact lenses and had switched up his usual all black with a tighter maroon long sleeved t-shirt (and of course his warm black bomber jacket) but he felt a little underdressed next to Mingyu, who, unsurprisingly, looked like a model. By the time they arrived, everyone was already buzzed, as made clear from Seokjin’s reddish face when he came to greet them. Dance beats from the next room filtered into the foyer.

“Woo and Gyuuu!!” he exclaimed and ushered them in from the doorway. While Wonwoo attempted to take off his shoes and jacket he was interrupted by Seokjin who circled his arms around Wonwoo’s middle, rendering his arms unusable. “Wonwoo…” Seokjin continued, “you and Mingyu are amazing! Did you know that?” Mingyu barked out a laugh while Wonwoo was still shocked into silence. “I’m so so so happy you are here!” 

“We love you too Seokjin.” Mingyu said. “Now let us actually come inside. We wanna be on your level!” At that Seokjin released his arms leaving Wonwoo finally free to venture inside. 

He waited for Mingyu to lead the way. While Wonwoo wasn’t exactly anxious in a large group of people, since he didn’t know most of them he felt better going in with Mingyu and maybe getting introduced. The group were seated mostly on the floor of a living room area, with a few seated on a couch and some chairs. Wonwoo recognized Mingyu’s classmate Yerin, as well as Sooyoung and of course Seokjin from the Robart’s Starbucks. 

There were a couple exclamations of greeting toward Mingyu, and a bit of a collective look in Wonwoo’s direction.

“Everyone, meet Wonwoo.” Mingyu said and gestured in Wonwoo’s direction. Wonwoo gave a slight wave and a smile mirrored by everyone in the room. “Wonwoo this is Noor, Keith, and Minghao.” Each person waved as they were introduced. “And of course you know Seokjin and Sooyoung. Plus you met Yerin before!” 

“So amazing to see you again Wonwoo!” Yerin said with a grin. “You look hot!” She glanced up and down and gave an OK hand sign and a wink. Wonwoo looked to Mingyu with skepticism but he had turned to give a sharp look in Yerin’s direction. Yerin simply raised her eyebrows and patted the floor next to where she was sitting, indicating for Mingyu to join her. He pouted, but obliged her request with Wonwoo following suit. After they settled in, it became clear that there was some kind of drinking game going on, though the dedication to organization of the game was unclear. It seemed that Minghao and Noor were in a deep conversation, speaking to one another in quiet but passionate tones. Meanwhile, Seokjin was laughing his ass off, hitting Sooyoung on the shoulder. Yerin, it seemed was not happy with the distraction from the game which consisted of a cup in the centre of the room and a mass of cards in a circle around it. 

“Focus people!” Yerin shouted out. “We were getting deep into a game of King’s Cup. We learned that Keith peed himself last year at his prom. Don’t you all want to find out more embarrassing secrets?” She stared intensely around the room. People shrugged, and Minghao mumbled what seemed to be a statement of dissent. “Fine. I’ll start us off again.” Yerin said as she reached for a card. “Six. Dicks!” She shouted. 

Mingyu and the other men in the room took a drink. Mingyu passed Wonwoo the mickey of rum he had bought for them to share and Wonwoo followed suit. Thankfully, Yerin had a bottle of Coke next to her, and poured both him and Mingyu a cup of the pop to chase with. 

“That is such a cis-sexist card rule.” Minghao piped up. “Can we change it to like…something not shitty?” 

“Hear, hear!” Mingyu declared. 

“How about six: chicks?” Yerin reasoned. 

“Fair.” replied Minghao. “Ok Keith, your turn.” 

“Uh…I have to go to the bathroom.” Keith said shiftily, and quickly absconded from the room, clearly still scarred from having to reveal his prom story. Sooyoung shrugged and picked up a card. 

“Eight!” Sooyoung declared. She turned to Wonwoo and pointed. “Mate!” Wonwoo looked quizzically at Mingyu. 

“It means that whenever Sooyoung drinks, you have to too.” Mingyu whispered in his ear. Wonwoo nodded in understanding, reaching for their shared bottle of rum as Sooyoung drank from her bottle of beer. 

“My turn!” Seokjin exclaimed, excitedly picking up a card. “Seven!” Suddenly everyone pointed one finger in the air. Seeing as Wonwoo had never played this game, he was the last to realize the rule. 

“Seven is heaven.” Mingyu explained. “You have to point up as fast as you can.” Wonwoo murmured a thanks and then took another drink, he had already started to feel the alcohol start to take effect, making his mind a little fuzzy. 

Noor got a card saying she had to drink, Minghao became the question master, meaning that anyone who answered a question he asked had to take a drink. When Keith got back, he drew a five which was apparently the truth card. This time the group found out that Keithonce threw up on a date’s shoes. 

Finally it was Wonwoo’s turn. He was feeling the few drinks he had taken way more than he should. He drew a card. “Ten.” he said, looking again to Mingyu for direction. 

“Never have I ever.” Mingyu whispered in response. 

“Ok…” Wonwoo began, “never have I ever…believed in love at first sight?” He looked around to make sure this was an acceptable response. Seokjin laughed a little and took a drink. 

“REALLY?” Mingyu exclaimed, a little too loudly. “You’ve never seen someone and just…known?” He looked expectantly at Wonwoo, seeming almost to be encouraging him to change his answer. The others in the room had paused their movements and looked in Wonwoo and Mingyu’s direction. 

“it just…takes me a while to start caring about someone, you know? I can’t meet someone and instantly be…in love.” Minghao nodded sombrely at this. “I need to spend time with them and know them? I guess?” 

“Love is more than cathexis, Gyu.” Minghao said. Mingyu looked grumpy and took a long drink, chasing with his red solo cup of Coke. “Love is mutuality and reciprocal work. You can’t simply see someone and love them. To love is to care for, most definitely, but it’s also to care with.” 

“OK, OK Hao…” Mingyu said. “We get the picture. I just…sometimes…you know…I like, want some romance in my life.” 

“Romance does not equal healthy relationsh-“

“Just shut up for a second OK?” Mingyu interrupted. Minghao shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “I guess its about…feeling connected after knowing someone for not very long.” Mingyu sighed. “Like, sure there is physical attraction that can be immediate, but also, just, the need to get to know someone? If you meet someone and after the first two times you see each other…you can want to know everything about them? And always hang out…maybe hold hands or something.”

“Or make sweet love…” Seokjin mused. Seokjin’s input broke Mingyu from his impromptu speech. He ran his hand through his hair, looking a bit embarrassed. 

“OK…” Yerin said. “I think we all need a shot after that.” There was a mumbled agreement across the room. People poured out a shot, but Mingyu was still staring off into nothing. Wonwoo poured a shot of their rum for him. 

“Here.” he prompted, nudging the cup into Mingyu’s hand. Mingyu murmured a thanks. 

“Cheers!” Sooyoung yelled, and the group threw the shot back gratefully. 

As the night progressed the energy level in the house grew substantially. Seokjin was most definitely a clingy drunk, and a bit of a sappy one. He was making the rounds of the room sharing his love with each individual present. Sooyoung seemed a bit restless and kept trying to rouse people to go out dancing with her. Yerin and Keith were simply chaotic, bouncing off the walls and dancing to the music playing in the small room; once successfully knocking over a lamp. Noor and Minghao remained chatting together, the only difference was that their once quiet tones became a bit more elevated, and Noor was gesticulating her points more enthusiastically. 

Wonwoo was now pleasantly drunk, sitting on the couch in between Seokjin and Mingyu, with Seokjin’s head resting on his shoulder. 

“I’m so happy Mingyu met you.” Seokjin said, not lifting his head from its resting position. Mingyu snorted. “No really! I just think you’re really good. And Mingyu is really good. And I just think you are both so _good_ , you know?” Wonwoo smiled. 

“Thanks Seokjin.” he replied. “I think you’re good too.” He patted Seokjin’s head. “Mingyu is alright too I guess.” he said cheekily. 

“Hey!” Mingyu protested. “You think I’m more than alright, right Wonwoo? Right?” He nudged Wonwoo’s shoulder, dislodging Seokjin’s cuddled up position. 

“Hmmm.” Wonwoo’s fogged brain pretended to think. “Mayyybee.” Mingyu smiled smugly and hugged onto Wonwoo’s left arm. 

“You said yourself I’m really handsome!” he said, looking up into Wonwoo’s eyes. “And plus I helped you study.” Wonwoo pretended to still be thinking about it but a smile broke through his farce. “And we only met like a couple weeks ago but we’ve already hung out so much— so that must mean you liiikkkeee me, right?” he asked and sweetly quirked his head. Wonwoo couldn’t help but grin in response. 

“I guess I do.” he said. Seokjin was full blown laughing next to them. 

“I love you both!!!” he shouted, pushing the two even closer together before he stood up from the couch, leaving them alone with a wink. 

Wonwoo and Mingyu sat snugly next to each other on the couch in comfortable silence for a stretched out moment, watching the rest of the party move by. Wonwoo was happy that the party was really just a small get together between friends and not some full blown kegger. It made him feel good that Mingyu wanted to include him in with his friend group, even if it was just as a favour. His friends’ welcoming attitude also helped to make him feel wanted, especially Seokjin’s kindness. 

“Hey,” Mingyu said, breaking through Wonwoo’s moment of thought, “how have things been with your mom? Have you guys talked?” 

“Not yet…” Wonwoo replied, thinking of his dedication to avoidance since lying to her. “I don’t want her to find out I lied about having a boyfriend and then think that because I lied it means that I’m actually straight or whatever.” Mingyu hummed in understanding. “It’s so stupid that I said that.” he continued and ran a hand through his hair. “And that’s how I came out to my brother too. I’m so fucked.” Mingyu nodded but remained silent for a bit longer. 

“Wait,” he finally said, “I have an idea.” Wonwoo turned to look questioningly at him. “What if I pretend to be your boyfriend?” 

Immediately all the blood rushed to Wonwoo’s face. His brain was filled with static and in his fuzzy and heart skipping moment he remained silent. His silence brought Mingyu into a slight panic. 

“Ah— I’m sorry!” his said in a too loud voice. Wonwoo hadn’t yet completely registered what was happening but the rest of the party seemed to melt away. “If that’s uh— weird or something. I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have suggested it. I always come on too strong with new… friends…I just wanted to help yo—“

“Yes.” Wonwoo finally managed to say. 

“Wh-what?” Mingyu asked, fully dazed and confused. 

“Yes. That would be amazing. If you pretended to be my…boyfriend.” Wonwoo said, thankful for the alcohol in his body giving him the words to speak. Mingyu’s face lit up. 

“Really?” he asked excitedly. “Dope!” He slug an arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders causing his heart to leap out of his chest. “I’m glad I can help you out!” 

_Oh god_ , Wonwoo thought as his soul slowly slithered out of his body, _what have I gotten myself into_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Thank you as always for reading!!! It really means the world to me to see your kudos and views <3  
> Would love to hear from you here in the comments or on my [tumblr](http://jin-kiss.tumblr.com/)  
> This chapter was a journey!!! I had to include Jin because he is my ub and Yerin and Sooyoung because they are my favourite ladies!!!  
> Thanks again <3 and all the love!
> 
> p.s. it's finally leaning towards spring in Toronto! god bless!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Art gallery date?? Yes please. Oh fake date...right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me eight years!

Wonwoo woke up the next morning with the telltale signs of a slight hangover. He had successfully cabbed home and chugged a bunch of water before falling asleep. He was thankful to be waking up in his own bed. Suddenly the events of the night before came flooding back to him. Mingyu offering to be his fake boyfriend, his reckless acceptance of Mingyu’s offer, and practically cuddling on the couch in Sooyoung’s living room? Wonwoo groaned as he sat up in bed, a combination of hangover, slight regret, and swirling nervousness making a sickly combination in his gut. 

Why would Mingyu have made an offer like that? They had just met so recently and plus Mingyu was a really hot single guy, he wouldn’t want people to think he was in a relationship if he wasn’t, right? Especially with Wonwoo, who felt he was quite far out of Mingyu’s league. 

From this train of thought, Wonwoo deduced that Mingyu’s offer must have been made in the haze of drunkenness and not have been serious. 

Directly after reaching this conclusion, Wonwoo received a text.

MINGYU: _Hey babe ;)_ it read. Panic leapt into Wonwoo’s entire being. _Dear Lord_ , he thought, he gripped his phone with both hands, palms sweating. He couldn’t do this. Was Mingyu just making fun of him? Truly his heart could not take this. Suddenly his phone buzzed again, making him jump. 

MINGYU: _Coffee date? <3 _the next text read. Wonwoo thought he was really going to pass out. Instead of responding he fell backwards into his bed resting his phone on his chest. Maybe Mingyu had been serious about his proposition the night before? If he was that would be pretty Wild…but Mingyu wasn’t exactly tame. His phone buzzed again. 

MINGYU: _Sorry!! Was that too fast? Not sure how this fake dating thing is supposed to work…_

Oh god. He was serious. 

Wonwoo finally started to type a reply. 

WONWOO: _No it’s cool! Coffee would be great. We can talk about it._

MINGYU: _Perfect! Meet at Green Beanery at 10:30?_

WONWOO: _Sounds good :)_

Dear fucking Lord. Somehow Wonwoo had got himself into a fake relationship he kinda sorta maybe had a real crush on his fake bf. Many red flags were popping up in Wonwoo’s usually logical mind. Problem A: Wonwoo needed this fake relationship to work to prove to his mom (and his brother Bohyuk) that he was homo romo. 

Problem B: Wonwoo actually had some real feelings for Mingyu meaning he would want them to maybe be in a real relationship, which leads to 

Problem C: since they would be in a fake relationship it would make it exponentially less possible for them to ever have a real one 

Problem D: Wonwoo had never been in a real relationship (well not since the third grade) meaning he was probably make a fool of himself 

Problem E: Mingyu was way too good for him

Those were pretty much all the problems he could come up with in a few minutes but he undoubtedly could double that list if he gave himself the time. 

But, instead of dwelling, Wonwoo miraculously got out of bed to get ready for this fake date with Mingyu. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and went back to his room to pick out some clothes. He didn’t want to look like he was trying to hard. But realized that having the thought that he didn’t want to try too hard was trying too hard in itself. Wonwoo sighed. 

After he took stock of himself in the mirror he decided to just be himself. When he finally left the house he was wearing a black beanie, black winter coat, black jeans, boots, long-sleeve tee…boxers. It truly was when he felt most himself. Wonwoo supposed his emo teens hadn’t quite released their grip on him. 

He had still managed to avoid his mother. Partially because whenever they saw each other neither of them spoke, but also through being as sneaky as possible on Wonwoo’s part. That morning he was able to leave the house without even catching a glimpse of her. 

It wasn’t that he wanted to completely avoid his mom. Wonwoo just felt as if he didn’t have the energy to talk to her. Thinking about having to explain, answer questions, convince…even just have a conversation about his sexuality made Wonwoo annoyed and a little scared. Avoidance certainly felt like the only option he had energy for for the time being. Seemingly, his mother felt the same as she had ceased her usual interaction with Wonwoo, now not even asking him when he’d be home or where he was going. She didn’t seem disapproving necessarily. He supposed they both just needed some space. 

Wonwoo shook his head and headed out the door to the Green Beanery. It was a local coffee shop that had a cozy feel and some pretty damn good espresso. Since it was a Friday and later in the morning it wasn’t too too busy inside. On Saturdays it had a tendency to be packed to the brim, so the contrast of more empty tables and a quiet atmosphere were nice. 

When Wonwoo arrived, he scanned the café for a sign of Mingyu but didn’t see him yet. 

Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder that made him jump. Wonwoo turned abruptly to see who had grabbed him. 

And there was Mingyu, smiling beautifully and being all around way too angelic. Wonwoo was immediately flustered. 

“Hey,” Mingyu said, “thanks for meeting up with me.” After repeating “fake” a few times Wonwoo’s heart settled down a bit and he couldn’t help but return Mingyu’s smile. 

“Of course.” Wonwoo replied. “Uh…should we grab a drink?” Mingyu nodded and they walked together to the counter to order. Wonwoo got an americano with two shots seeing as his hangover was still lingering, albeit mildly. Mingyu stepped up to the counter.

“We’re together.” he said firmly. Wonwoo felt his cheeks heat up. God…he was fucked. Mingyu ordered some ridiculously sweet latte and paid for the both of them. They moved down the counter to wait for their order to come in. 

“Thanks.” Wonwoo mumbled, still feeling the flush from Mingyu’s actions. 

“What are boyfriends for?” 

Wonwoo let out a strangled noise which he disguised as a cough. 

“Check this out!” Mingyu said, thankfully changing the direction of the conversation. “This reminds me of you.” He was pointing at a standee on the counter which displayed a page of writing. “‘ _Father. don’t be so severe! / If I can’t drink / My bowl of coffee three times daily / Then in my torment I will shrivel up / Like a piece of roast goat_.’” he read aloud. 

“Ah what beautiful poetry.” Wonwoo said with a laugh. “Though if it really were me, it would be a bit over three bowls of coffee.” 

Mingyu grinned. 

“Three bowls already seems like a lot of bowls. But having been a direct witness to your caffeine addiction, I believe you.” 

Wonwoo gave a big smile in return. 

Quite quickly, their orders came up. Wonwoo’s first and then Mingyu’s. 

“Medium latte with two pumps of cinnamon syrup and whipped cream!” the barista announced. Mingyu’s eyes widened in anticipation. 

“Do you even drink just coffee?” Wonwoo asked. 

“This is coffee?” 

“That is dessert.” 

“You’re just bitter…like your coffee.” 

“Ha. Ha.” 

They grabbed their drinks and made their way to a table. 

“So I guess you’re still allowed to be a barista even though everything you drink has copious amounts of sugar?” Wonwoo asked. Mingyu simply shrugged in reply and took a gentle relishing sip of his latte concoction. Wonwoo followed suit and settled into his seat. Though he was nervous about meeting up, he couldn’t deny that Mingyu made him feel at ease. He was just one of those people who was incredibly comfortable to be around: kind, easy to talk to, easy to…look at. Wonwoo gently shook his head to bring his thoughts back to the present. 

“What is it?” Mingyu asked. 

“It’s just…” Wonwoo began, “it feels so different now that Honest Ed’s is gone.” Mingyu hummed in agreement. “I used to go there with my older brother when I would come visit him at school— he goes to U of T too— and we’d just wander through together, get lost…” Wonwoo looked out the window to where the store had once stood. It was full of rubble and construction vehicles. 

“I never got to go in.” Mingyu said with regret. “And now they are just putting up condos I heard.” Wonwoo hummed morosely in response and took a comforting sip of his americano. “Right! Now onward into our fake relationship!” Mingyu announced abruptly. Wonwoo took a moment to choke slightly onhis drink. “What’s our first step? I guess I should like make a story about how we fell for each other? Or like just holding hands in public? Buying matching couple outfits? Family dinners? Asking your parents permission? Telling them we are in lo-“ Wonwoo broke into a fit of coughs interrupting MIngyu’s tangent. “OH my god! Are you OK? Sorry I uhh got a bit off…like went off on a tangent… I just am…really excited to be…helping out a new friend? I just…sorry sorry.” Mingyu’s face had turned a stunning shade of pink. Wonwoo held a hand up to partially cover his own face in embarrassment. 

“NO…uh no. It’s all good. I just think we should uh— take it slower, you know?” Wonwoo said. Mingyu nodded eagerly. “Like maybe we should get to know each other a bit, normally? I think if we just talk it out a bit…if that’s OK?” 

“That sound perfect! I am so happy that we became friends.” How was it possible for him to have no filter, Wonwoo wondered. But Mingyu’s bluntness made him all the more likeable. “Right, so step one is asking you on a real date” Mingyu said with a smile. “So, want to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario? You are uh into art right?”Goddamn, Mingyu made really good eye contact. 

“Yeah. I uh— would really like that.” he replied. It made him feel good to hear that Mingyu remembered his interest in art. “The Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit is on right now but it’s pretty much impossible to get tickets for even though I’m a member. But the gallery itself would be fun to go check out. It’s been a while since I’ve gone just to look at the collection itself and not an exhibit.” 

“I’m so down! I haven’t been to the AGO yet so it will be perfect to have someone who knows what their talking about to show me around.” Mingyu smiled up and him and Wonwoo’s world slowed down. Why was hanging out with Mingyu turning him into a living cliche? Wonwoo wondered….

They sipped their drinks in comfortable conversation, with Wonwoo gently teasing Mingyu again about his sugary coffee.

 

The two ended up in front of the AGO for their first official fake date. Mingyu bounced on the balls of his feet while they waited in line at the coat check. He seemed to not be able to stay still, turning his head all around and tapping his hands against his thighs. The fact that Mingyu was exhibiting symptoms of nervousness made Wonwoo feel better about his own nerves acting up. 

They checked their coats successfully and made their way into the gallery after buying tickets. Mingyu looked up in awe at the grand main room. It had swirling wood stair cases on either side of the entrance of the room and a big open atrium. Wonwoo took a breath of relief, comfortable in the familiar setting. He glanced over at Mingyu and was pleased to see his look of interest as he looked around the building. 

“C’mon!” Wonwoo said. “Let start upstairs.” He gestured for Mingyu to follow him. As they walked up the stairs together, Mingyu slipped his hand into Wonwoo’s. Wonwoo let in a sharp intake of breath- and then reminded himself once again that this was all fake. Fake hand-holding. But the warmth and size of MIngyu’s hand made it hard to remind himself of the nature their relationship was constrained to. 

When they made it up to the first section of gallery, Wonwoo was able to put those thoughts aside and refocus on something he felt comfortable with: art. 

“This is…a square?” Mingyu pointed with his right hand, keeping his right in Wonwoo’s grasp. 

“Mmhmm.” Wonwoo replied, “Homage to the square or something like that.” The print was composed of a number of squares positioned successively over each other. “What do you think of it? Too contemporary?” Wonwoo didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about some contemporary art, but was curious to hear what Mingyu thought seeing it for the first time. 

“I guess…” Mingyu paused: and then shrugged. “But it’s making me think about it? I mean this is probably the longest I’ve thought about squares since I learned what a square was.” 

Wonwoo snorted a laugh. 

“What was that a very non-arty thing to say?” Mingyu joked, with a bit of genuine worry peaking through.

“Nah, it was good. I like experiencing it through fresher eyes- like outside of an academic lens or whatever.” A bit of tension released in Mingyu’s shoulders and he shot Wonwoo a soft smile. It was a a heart melting smile if Wonwoo had ever seen one. 

“C’mon. I want to show you all the Tom Thompson and group of seven stuff.” He pulled Mingyu by the hand and led him up further to the room filled with mostly Lawren Harris paintings. “Here,” he lead them to the left-hand side of the room, “they go in chronological order— his earlier stuff was more realistic and whatnot and then as he kept painting they got more abstracted. Stark and stuff.” Wonwoo and Mingyu made their way around the room, still hand in hand. 

They wander through the room with Mingyu making little comments along the way— seemingly eager to hear from Wonwoo about group of seven history. 

“Were you in an art club or something high school?” Mingyu asked.

“Nah, I was not really involved. More of a sullen angsty teen. My friends and I from art class would get together sometimes to just talk art stuff though. Or do collabs.” 

“Can I see some of your art sometime?”

“Sure…sometime.” 

Wonwoo felt shy about sharing his art with others, especially with those whose opinions he valued. He knew that he was good, but also not fantastic? If Mingyu did not like his art, it would hurt a lot.

“I was crazy involved.” Mingyu said. “Like…too involved. Soccer, hockey, volley ball, student council, and all that crap.” Wonwoo breathed out a laugh. Of course Mingyu was that well rounded and knew a bunch of people and stuff. Wonwoo felt like he was totally out of his league with Mingyu. If it was a real dating thing…but it wasn’t so… 

“What are you thinking about?” Mingyu asked, pausing, still with Wonwoo’s hand in his own. Wonwoo broke out of his train of thought.

“Oh…just that we sound like we were pretty different in high school.” he said.

“At face value only.” Mingyu said, “I bet we would have been friends.” He grinned at Wonwoo. Both of their faces heated up. 

Wonwoo’s phone buzzed, breaking the silence and tension of the moment. 

“One sec.” he said, pulling out his phone. It was just a notification from twitter - but having his phone out gave him an idea. 

To: MOM

Hey mom. Just wanted to let you know I’m out on a date with my boyfriend Mingyu. He took me to the AGO! I’ll be back home this evening. 

 

Wonwoo took a deep breath and locked his phone, pocketing it.

“Is everything good?” Mingyu asked.

“Yeah,” Wonoo replied. “I think it will be.” Wonwoo grabbed Mingyu’s hand and ran his thumb gently over the back of his hand. They walked on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! I love you!


End file.
